REGINA – Effective November 1, 2008, provincially-owned telco SaskTel will be increasing the price of its text messaging subscription plans.
The basic plan, which includes 100 sent text messages, will increase from $5 to $6 per month. Additional messages will continue to be 15 cents per sent message. Its unlimited plan, which includes unlimited text messages, will increase from $10 to $13 per month. All incoming text messages will continue to be free.
As text messaging continues to grow in popularity, the cost to support the volume of messages received on SaskTel’s network continues to increase as well, noted the company in a release. “With over 8.5 million text messages sent and received on SaskTel’s network every day, it is important to ensure that text messages arrive quickly and reliably. SaskTel does not charge for incoming text messages, unlike many of SaskTel’s competitors, and even with this price increase, SaskTel still offers one of the lowest priced unlimited plans to its customers.”
The company also debuted two new sets of postpaid cellular rate plans. Effective last week, SaskTel’s consumer and small business customers will be able to sign up for the Unlimited Talk and Unlimited Talk North America plans, which will provide more free calling and long distance savings
The new Unlimited Talk calling plans start at just $20 per month and include:
* unlimited local calling within Saskatchewan with other SaskTel cellular customers;
* unlimited local evening and weekend minutes (including free airtime for calls from anywhere in Canada, to anywhere in Canada – long distance charges are extra);
* a set number of local minutes that can be used during the day, starting at 300 minutes per month.
The Unlimited Talk North America plans include local and long distance calling and start at just $40 per month. They include:
* unlimited Saskatchewan airtime and long distance when calling other SaskTel cellular customers any time of day (both customers must be in Saskatchewan during the call);
* unlimited long distance evening and weekend minutes to anywhere in Canada or the United States (call must originate in Saskatchewan – includes airtime and long distance);
* a set number of daytime minutes that can be used for calls placed anywhere in Canada or the U.S., starting at 300 minutes per month.
