SaskTel Wireless Data Traffic Spikes 34% During COVID-19

SaskTel has announced it is expecting another busy Mother’s Day on its wired and wireless networks, with many people set to connect with moms through text messages, phone and video calls.

“Now more than ever, families across the Province are finding creative solutions to spend time together.  SaskTel’s services such as text and video calling will be some of the many popular ways people in Saskatchewan are reminding mom just how much they care, even if they have to be apart,” said Doug Burnett, SaskTel President and CEO, in a statement.

Since mid-March, SaskTel says its network has seen usage numbers increase across services during the COVID-19 pandemic, with its wireless data network seeing the “most noticeable increase” in the latest weeks. As of April 27, 2020, here are numbers:

• Internet Services: SaskTel has experienced increases in provincial data traffic on our DSL and fibre optic networks of 16%
• Wireless Data Traffic: Across our Wireless LTE Network SaskTel has seen an increase in demand of 34%
• Fusion Data Traffic:  Data usage on our Fusion Internet network has increased by 46%

SaskTel says it expects new records set this year for Mother’s Day, surpassing last year’s total of over 4 million text messages sent and over 5 million text messages received.