SaskTel today confirmed that it will be turning down its Code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless network July 5, 2017, after which CDMA wireless phones and devices will no longer function. SaskTel has been transitioning existing CDMA customers over the past year to its 4G and 4G LTE network which offers faster speeds, more capable devices, broader coverage, new features and more.

“As technologies evolve, it becomes necessary to turn down older networks so we can repurpose spectrum to focus on newer, faster networks that deliver improved experiences,” said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO. “We are encouraging customers to take advantage of our 4G or 4G LTE data speeds and upgrade to a 4G or 4G LTE phone prior to July 4th to avoid service disruption.”

CDMA wireless technology is being phased out across the world and CDMA wireless devices and network equipment availability are becoming more costly to repair and difficult to source. SaskTel has received notification from a roaming partner that they expect to turn down their CDMA wireless network as of the end of June 2017. This will result in SaskTel customers losing coverage when leaving Saskatchewan if they continue using their CDMA device.

Learn more about the CDMA network turndown and which devices are impacted.

About SaskTel

SaskTel is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in Saskatchewan, with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue and approximately 1.4 million customer connections including 616,000 wireless accesses, 383,000 wireline network accesses, 275,000 Internet accesses and 110,000 maxTV™ subscribers. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries offer a wide range of ICT products and services including competitive voice, data and Internet services, wireless data services, maxTV services, data centre services, cloud-based services, security monitoring services, advertising services, and international software and consulting services. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 4,000 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Visit SaskTel at sasktel.com.

For more information, please contact:

Michelle Englot, SaskTel Director of External Communications
Phone: 306.777.4476
E-mail: michelle.englot@sasktel.com