REGINA — SaskTel announced today its capital expenditure plan for its 2022-2023 fiscal year, saying it will invest approximately $337 million of capital throughout Saskatchewan for the period from April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023, and more than $1.5 billion over the next five years.
The Crown corporation of Saskatchewan is committing $82.2 million to its fibre-to-the-x program — which consists of fibre-to-the-premises and fibre-to-the-business — as well as $110.6 million for 5G deployment and network enhancements, $79.3 million for wireline network growth and enhancements, and $64.9 million to improve its customer services and operations.
“We are firmly committed to providing our customers with the high quality and reliable communications technologies and services they need to connect to what matters most to them,” said Doug Burnett, SaskTel president and CEO, in a press release detailing the company’s 2022-2023 investment program.
“We are proud to serve Saskatchewan and as we transition to a post-Covid world, we will continue to do what we can to create a brighter and more connected future for our province,” Burnett said.
Don Morgan, the provincial minister responsible for SaskTel, added: “Our government recognizes how critical advanced broadband and wireless technologies are to the overall success and prosperity of our province…These investments will further strengthen and expand the networks we rely on today, while also setting the foundation for future technological innovations that will help to drive economic growth, job creation, and improvements in the quality of life for all Saskatchewan residents.”
The highlights of SaskTel’s 2022-2023 capital spending program include the following:
FTTx program ($82.2 million)
- $22.8 million – Fibre-to-the-premises initiative in the nine major centres of Saskatchewan
- $35 million – FTTP initiative outside the nine major centres, which includes SaskTel’s Rural Fibre Initiative
- $24.4 million – Fibre-to-the-business (FTTB) initiative
5G deployment and network enhancements ($110.6 million)
- $103.6 million – 5G network modernization program
- $7 million – Long Term Evolution (LTE) enhancements
Wireline network growth and enhancements ($79.3 million)
- $32 million – Access and core demand and growth
- $25 million – Network modernization
- $7 million – maxTV and maxTV Stream growth and service development
- $15.3 million – Customer premise equipment (CPE)
Improving customer services and operations ($64.9 million)
Investments in information technology and information systems platforms and service enhancements include:
- Customer relationship management evolution to provide a seamless experience across all channels and improve overall customer experience.
- Enhancements to self-serve platform and IVR that enable wider self-serve capabilities.
- Upgrades to existing information systems infrastructure, application functionality and data storage required to enable continued evolution into a world-class information communications technology provider.
SaskTel’s capital investments for the 2022-2023 fiscal year will be a $14-million increase over what they were for fiscal 2021-2022.
