SaskTel customers in Stony Rapids and Black Lake now have wireless service, as the carrier has launched new cell towers to service these Northern Communities, through a partnership with Athabasca Basin Development and Huawei Canada.
The partnership is part of SaskTel’s Community Participation Model, which has communities help raise funds to bring wireless service to areas otherwise not economically feasible for the company to do so. The total project cost was $6 million, with Athabasca Basin Development Corporation providing $249,000 and Huawei contributing $385,000.
“SaskTel remains committed to connecting all the residents of this vast Province to technology and the opportunities it brings,” said Minister Responsible for SaskTel Jim Reiter. “In addition to this important initiative, with support from the Connecting Canadians Program, SaskTel is also working on extending and increasing broadband internet speeds to an additional 26 Northern communities.”
The extended wireless service will allow for better communication in these communities, plus safety and for doing business.
Wollaston Lake and Fond Du Lac First Nation gained wireless service back in September of this year, through this similar initiative.
In other news, SaskTel expects yet another busy holiday calling season, projecting roughly 750,000 long distance calls to take place on Christmas Day, comprised of 350,000 wireline and 400,000 wireless calls, to go with nearly 6 million texts as well.
