REGINA — SaskTel announced it will upgrade high-speed Internet service for almost 2,700 homes across 26 communities in northern Saskatchewan by the end of 2016, as part of the federal government’s Connecting Canadians initiative.
When the upgrade is completed, residents in those remote and rural communities will be able to enjoy download speeds of up to 5 Mbps and upload speeds of up to 1 Mbps. Currently, three of the 26 communities do not have access to SaskTel’s high-speed Internet service at all.
SaskTel estimates the total cost of the project will be $9.9 million, which includes the upgrades in all 26 communities as well as the construction of 89 km of fibre from Cigar Lake to Collins Bay and 9 km of fibre from Dillon to St. George’s Hill. The federal government’s Connecting Canadians program is contributing $7.42 million to assist in the completion of the project, SaskTel said in a news release.
“SaskTel is pleased to partner with the federal government to deliver high-speed connectivity to rural and remote communities in northern Saskatchewan,” Jim Reiter, Minister Responsible for SaskTel, said in the news release. “The Connecting Canadians program supports SaskTel’s goal of bringing faster broadband speeds to our northern communities in order to provide equitable access to services such as communications, education, health, electronic commerce and entertainment.”
