SaskTel announced plans today to improve LTE cellular services in 12 additional communities throughout rural Saskatchewan by deploying a small cell site solution. The majority of these towers (10) will be in-service by March 31st, 2020 with the remaining 2 towers launching in June 2020. This will bring the total number of small cell sites constructed under the Government of Saskatchewan’s Wireless Saskatchewan initiative to 103 in rural locations across the province.

“The Wireless Saskatchewan initiative has allowed SaskTel to enhance wireless service in over 100 communities that had no cellular coverage or fringe service at best,” Minister Responsible for SaskTel Don Morgan said. “With today’s digital economy, our government understands that rural residents in the province require access to fast and reliable communications services that are on par with urban areas.”

“We are extremely proud to continue building a world-class network that will deliver enhanced cellular services to 103 more small towns and villages,” SaskTel President and CEO Doug Burnett said. “We know our customers in all areas of the province are wanting improved cellular services and these upgrades will help bolster our network and add capacity to address the ever-growing demand for wireless data.”

The upgrades on the first 50 towers were completed by March 31, 2019 and SaskTel is now working on turning up the 41 towers (30 remaining) previously announced that will be in-service by March 31, 2020 and the 12 towers announced today. See the attached appendix for a full list of small cell sites constructed as part of the Government of Saskatchewan’s Wireless Saskatchewan initiative.

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 612,000 wireless accesses, 326,000 wireline network accesses, 283,000 internet accesses and 112,000 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 3,700 full-time equivalent employees (FTEs). Visit SaskTel at www.sasktel.com.

For more information, please contact:
Michelle Englot, SaskTel Director of External Communications
Phone: 306.777.4476
E-mail: Michelle.Englot@sasktel.com