Today SaskTel announced that it will invest approximately $313 million in overall capital expenditures in Saskatchewan in 2015, with approximately $177 million dollars being allocated towards its core Saskatchewan network. Residential and business customers in communities across the province can expect improved and expanded SaskTel services as a result of these latest major infrastructure investments.  The investment will ensure SaskTel customers in Saskatchewan continue to receive some of the best wireless, maxTV, Internet, data and future IP-based services in the world. 

“SaskTel’s investment in infrastructure will allow them to deploy the powerful next generation technologies that will better serve the people of Saskatchewan and grow the provincial economy,” said Kevin Doherty, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. “SaskTel’s commitment to Saskatchewan people is evidenced through their ongoing significant capital investments as they work to improve the customer experience across the entire Province.” 

“We will continue to invest in upgrading and expanding our core network that is providing service to hundreds of urban and rural communities,” said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO.  “We proudly remain the only company to not only extend broadband services to hundreds of communities, but to continually work to maintain and upgrade them.” 

Highlights of this year’s core Saskatchewan investment program include:

• In 2015, SaskTel will invest $45.0 million in its Fibre to the Premises Program (FTTP).
• Bringing infiNET to Saskatchewan consumers is a $670 million ten-year program announced in 2012 which targets to have 100% of homes in the nine major centres in the province passed by 2020. In 2015, the FTTP program will pass 27,200 homes with a focus of connecting 18,000 more customers to infiNET in Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw, Prince Albert and Swift Current.
• Fibre will offer speeds that far exceed those of SaskTel’s current network and will allow SaskTel to deploy speeds up to 260 Mbps initially, with the capacity to significantly increase speeds over time. Customers will enjoy faster download and upload speeds to enhance the online experience when downloading or streaming video, uploading photos and videos, and participating in real-time gaming and video chat. infiNET will also support up to 7 HD capable set top boxes, the ability to combine faster Internet speeds with maxTV and allow SaskTel to continue improving the TV watching experience. 

• In 2015, SaskTel will invest $37.8 million for ongoing wireless network enhancements.  This includes:
  • $ 18.2 million for 4G network enhancements - The 4G network provides increased bandwidth with download speeds approximately 10 times faster than CDMA network speeds (up to 21 megabits per second). The 4G wireless network delivers increased bandwidth, greater international roaming and a wider selection of wireless device.
  • $ 14.6 million for Long Term Evolution expansion - The 4G LTE network will provide increased data speeds approximately 5 times faster than the current 4G network allowing customers to stream HD movies, high quality video and music, share pictures and videos, game faster than ever before and download applications lightning fast.
  • $5.0 million for wireless network demand. 

• In 2015, SaskTel will invest $79.9 million on a number of initiatives to meet basic network growth and other enhancements.  Key initiatives include:
  • Network modernization - $16.2 million
  • Access and Core Demand and Planning - $44.8 million
  • Rural Ethernet Transport Strategy – $6.2 million
  • SaskTel Select Wi-Fi Expansion - $4.0 million
  • SaskTel High Speed Fusion (LTE-TDD) - $1.4 million
  • Community Participation Programs and Partnerships - $7.3 million

• Other:
• Network convergence - $3.7 million
• Other network expenditures $11.0 million 

About SaskTel

SaskTel is the leading Information and Communications Technology (ICT) provider in Saskatchewan, with over $1.2 billion in annual revenue and over 1.4 million customer connections including over 618,000 wireless accesses, 437,000 wireline network accesses, 258,000 Internet accesses and over 103,000 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 www.sasktel.com. 

For media inquiries only, please contact:

Michelle Englot, SaskTel Director External Communications

306.777.4476
michelle.englot@sasktel.com