REGINA – SaskTel marked the 25th anniversary of the launch of cellular service in Saskatchewan Friday.
Launching in 1989 with an AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Technology) analog network, the Crown Corporation was the first provider in Saskatchewan to offer cellular service, and would be the only provider building infrastructure for cellular networks in the province for well over a decade.
In 1998, the company digitalized the infrastructure, introducing the new CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) network with capable download speeds of up to 0.4 – 0.8 Mbps. By 2005, SaskTel innovated again by launching EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) network technology, thereby increasing available download speeds to up to 1Mbps, more than double the speed CDMA could offer.
Only five years later, in 2010, SaskTel introduced what was then a 3G network, evolving toward the 4G network it would become by 2012, boasting download speeds of 1.5 – 7 Mbps. Although another major upgrade to an already extensive network in just a few short years, it was viewed as a step toward the future, paving the way for the next advancement of wireless, LTE (Long Term Evolution). The 4G LTE network was launched by SaskTel in 2013, and brings available download speeds of up to 7-15 Mbps.
“Cellular service and network access has allowed Saskatchewan people to become citizens of our global world,” said president and CEO Ron Styles, in the news release. “We are very proud to have brought a technology to this province that enriches the social, economic, personal and business opportunities of all residents, and has fundamentally changed the way we live.”
“In 25 short years, SaskTel has built and maintained multiple cellular network technologies – some of the largest and most extensive in the world,” added Kevin Doherty, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. “By continually upgrading to keep pace with the latest technology, SaskTel has been able to provide people of this province with world class cellular service which has always been a priority for the Government of Saskatchewan.”
In a province with just over a million people, SaskTel celebrated its 600,000th wireless customer in 2012. Its network now serves 98% of the province, despite its 250,000 square miles of geography, large rural-base, and widely dispersed population.
