SaskTel

Table ST-1. SaskTel-Contributions to Saskatchewan's Economy, 2003

Canadian Plains Research Center

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SaskTel (Saskatchewan Telecommunications) has been delivering telecommunications services to the people of Saskatchewan for more than 90 years. Recognized as one of the leading telecommunications companies in the world, it is the only remaining provincially owned telecommunications corporation in Canada. SaskTel’s roots are in the Department of Railway, Telephones and Telegraphs, which was established in 1908. The department was given authority to establish and operate local and long-distance telephone lines; its goal was to provide cost-effective service to as many farms, homes and businesses as possible. In 1947, responsibility for telecommunications was transferred to a new Crown corporation called Saskatchewan Government Telephones, which was later renamed SaskTel. Today SaskTel provides 425,000 residential and business customers with competitive voice, data, dial and high-speed internet, wireless, digital television, and e-business solutions. The corporation also maintains investments in companies that provide directory publishing, remote security monitoring, system design, project management, engineering consulting, software sales, cable television, transaction clearinghouse, wireless point of sale, broadband internet streaming, internet transaction tracking, and advertising services, as well as telecommunication services to business customers in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. Before 2000, SaskTel was provincially regulated, allowing it to establish billing and service structures tailored to provincial priorities. It became regulated by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) on June 30, 2000. (See Table ST-1)

Karen Schmidt