REGINA, SK – SaskTel announced today it has launched high speed internet in the village of Avonlea, located about 60 km southwest of Regina, as part of a long-term strategy designed to increase access to high speed internet in rural Saskatchewan.
“This is the first of 50 planned expansions to rural communities across the province,” said Don McMorris, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. “Our government places a high priority on providing high speed internet access to residents of rural Saskatchewan; in the past six years, we have been able to expand high speed internet to over 90 communities.”
The telco says that part of its rural strategy involves an effort to upgrade speeds in over 200 existing DSL communities this year, in addition to expanding DSL to 50 additional communities. Currently SaskTel provides DSL internet access to 363 rural communities.
SaskTel is also planning on introducing a new LTE fixed-wireless product to facilitate broadband access in rural locations, pending results of a LTE-TDD fixed wireless trial currently underway and scheduled for completion for August 2013. The company is allocating an additional $10.7 million towards expanding the coverage and capacity of its 4G wireless network, including construction of 31 new towers and 37 network enhancements.
