REGINA – SaskTel expects that soon after opening their Christmas gifts its customers will take to their phones. It estimates 600,000 long distance calls on December 25 which includes approximately 450,000 wireline calls and approximately 150,000 wireless long distance calls. SaskTel also projects that customers will send approximately 8 million SMS text messages on Christmas Day.
“SaskTel is all about helping our customers stay connected to friends and family,” said Don McMorris, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. “We would like to thank all of SaskTel’s customers for continuing to allow us to facilitate that special connection and to wish them a safe and happy holiday.”
As always, the increase in long distance calling during the holidays may result in some temporary network congestion. This is a normal result of any sudden increase in activity on SaskTel’s wireline and wireless networks.
Customers can minimize any inconvenience by remembering to:
• place calls outside of the busy hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.;
• verify phone numbers in advance;
• take time zones into consideration.
Roughly 40% of Christmas Day calls are expected to be made to locations within Saskatchewan, while about 54 % of the calls placed will be to Canadian destinations outside of the province. About 5% of the calls will go to the United States and other various international locations.
