Sasktel Announced on Monday that they will be investing $324 million in Saskatchewan over the next 18 months, and 1.4 billion over the next five years.

The investment includes spending 73 million transitioning Fibre to the 'X' program, which they hope to have connected to all customers in 9 major centers by the end of 2023.

According to the SaskTel Media Release;

Work includes:

  • $50.0 million - Fibre to the Premises Program (FTTP) in the nine major centres. 
  • $12.0 million - Fibre to the Premises Program (FTTP) outside of the nine majors. 
  • $11.0 million for Fibre to the Business (FTTB)
  • In 2020/21, the FTTx program is forecasted to pass approximately 33,000 homes while connecting 21,000. The program also aims to pass 1,300 businesses and connecting 1,200.

Other work announced includes $35.0 million for wireless network enhancements

  • $ 28.4 million - Long Term Evolution (LTE) enhancements - The 4G LTE network covers 99% of the population of the province and provides data speeds approximately 10 times faster than 4G allowing customers to stream HD movies, high-quality video and music, share pictures and videos, game faster than ever before and download applications lightning fast. (LTE and UMTS-HSPA)
  • $2.1 million - SaskTel selectWI-FI expansion.
  • $4.5 million - Wireless network demand and growth including $2.6 million for Long Term Evolution – Time Division Duplex (LTE-TDD) Fusion capacity enhancements.

$78.9 million for rural wireless enhancements

  • A multi-phase initiative to provide rural communities with enhanced access to reliable cellular and high-speed internet services.

$77.6 million on several initiatives to meet wireline network growth

  • Network modernization- $17.0 million
  • Access and Core Demand and Growth - $40.0 million
  • Community Participation Programs and Partnerships - $2.4 million
  • maxTV Growth - $9.0 million
  • Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) - $9.0 million
  • Other network enhancement - $.2 million

$60.0 million to improve customer services through continued investment in Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS) platforms and service enhancements. Key initiatives include:

  • Customer Delivery Evolution to implement workforce management capabilities that will enable SaskTel to respond to customer demands more efficiently.
  • Service Management Transformation to enhance the self-serve capabilities of Business customers.
  • Business Tools Evolution Project which will implement the Core Customer Relationship Management capabilities that provide the foundation to evolve SaskTel’s business customer-focused systems and processes.
  • Policy Charging & Control to support faster wireless network speeds through carrier aggregation.