SaskTel today announced that two new wireless towers are fully operational in Northern Saskatchewan. These new towers serve the Indigenous communities of Buffalo River Dene Nation and Waterhen Lake First Nation with SaskTel 4G LTE wireless service and were made possible through SaskTel’s Community Participation Program in partnership with these communities and the Meadow Lake Tribal Council.

“I’m very pleased with today’s announcement and SaskTel’s Community Participation Program overall,” said Don Morgan, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. “Through the program, communities provide a portion of the funds required to cover the capital costs to bring services to their residents. As a result, SaskTel is able to expand services to areas of the province where it would not otherwise be economically feasible to do so.”  

With these new towers in place, the residents of the Buffalo River Dene Nation and Waterhen Lake First Nation can now fully enjoy the benefits of SaskTel’s 4G LTE service, including reliable voice and messaging as well as entertainment options such as streaming HD movies and music, sharing pictures and videos, or even gaming, all from their smartphones.

“This is a great day for the people of our community,” said Joanne Roy, Chief of the Waterhen Lake First Nation. “Up until today, we’ve had little or no cell coverage in our community. This new tower will have a tremendous impact on local businesses, safety, and the quality of life for our residents.” 

“This new cell tower was an important investment for our community and we’re all very excited that the tower is up and running,” said Wes Sylvestre, Councillor for the Buffalo River Dene Nation. “Now our community has a more reliable way to communicate with one another to keep in touch and hopefully to take advantage of the new business, social, and educational opportunities that come with cellular service.”

“We’re happy to be part of this partnership that will bring a real and lasting impact to two of our member communities,” said Richard Ben, Tribal Chief of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council. “I am positive that these new cell towers will bring with them new opportunities and a better quality of life for the people of these communities and I’d like to thank SaskTel for their help in making this dream into a reality.”

To learn more about SaskTel 4G LTE wireless service, including details about coverage and rate plans, please visit our website at www.sasktel.com.

About SaskTel
SaskTel is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in Saskatchewan, with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue and approximately 1.35 million customer connections including 610,000 wireless accesses, 345,000 wireline network accesses, 283,000 Internet accesses and 112,000 maxTVsubscribers. 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 3,900 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Visit SaskTel at www.sasktel.com.

For more information, please contact:
Greg Jacobs, SaskTel Manager of External Communications
Phone: 306.777.3433   
E-mail: Greg.Jacobs@sasktel.com