Pictured from left to right: Charlene Gavel (SaskTel President and CEO), The Honourable Gudie Hutchings (Minister of Rural Economic Development and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency) and Jim Lemaigre (MLA for Athabasca)
The federal government has announced up to $160 million in federal funding to enhance connectivity in underserved communities and roads across Saskatchewan, particularly in Indigenous areas. The investment also includes cellphone connectivity along 500 km of roads.
This investment will see up to $105 million for SaskTel to bring internet to up to 5,700 homes in West Central and Northern Saskatchewan, most which are Indigenous.
SaskTel’s Capital Plan will upgrade Internet speeds in 19 more communities to 50/10 megabits per second (Mbps).
The Minister also detailed seven federally funded projects aimed at providing high-speed Internet access to over 8,000 households, including 3,200 Indigenous homes, and two projects that will bring mobile service along 500 kilometres of roadway within Indigenous communities and highways.
“High-speed Internet is no longer a luxury. The federal funding committed today will bring reliable high-speed Internet to up to 13,700 underserved homes in communities across Saskatchewan and provide mobile connectivity along 500 km of roads,” said Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development.
“As Saskatchewan’s homegrown communications leader, we understand how important fast and reliable connectivity is to the overall health and well-being of our customers, especially those living in more remote communities,” said Charlene Gavel, SaskTel President and CEO, in a statement to iPhone in Canada. “We are pleased to receive funding from the Universal Broadband Fund and look forward to bringing improved connectivity to more residents of our province.”
These projects will get a combined $55 million in federal funding. The recipients include Access Communications Co-operative Ltd., Advanced Interactive Canada Inc., BH Telecom Corp., Pheasant Rump Nakota First Nation in partnership with Sequorum Inc., Meadow Lake Tribal Council, and SaskTel.
One has to wonder if considering SpaceX’s Starlink internet would be more cost effective than laying down fibre to rural areas.
These projects are part of the Universal Broadband Fund, aimed at expanding high-speed access in Canada. The feds plan to connect 98% of Canadians by 2026, with full nationwide high-speed Internet access by 2030.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
One has to wonder why all this effort would be put in to just get 50/10 internet. The minimum should be gigabit or what's close to gigabit (940/940).
Agreed, let’s lay fibre to these historically-underserved communities so they can take advantage of continually -increasing speeds offered by fibre.
Also, the editorialization by this article’s author in favour of loss-leader satellite service still in beta and controlled by an unstable multi-billionaire who has shown no obligation to providing *necessary* services for the long-term SHORS the author Diane understands the goal of the program, quote:
“One has to wonder if considering SpaceX’s Starlink internet would be more cost effective than laying down fibre to rural areas.”
This funding is about providing critical infrastructure to historically underserved groups at the lowest long-term cost that will be sustainable for the long-term, and I personally believe the way SaskTel builds and operates infrastructure in their province – treating it asa basic service and not a good to extract profit – is something more places should be doing.