Internet upgrades in southwest Saskatchewan

By Medicine Hat News on January 28, 2021.

Faster internet service is coming to Fox Valley, Burstall, and Richmound in southwest Saskatchewan.

An announcement Tuesday from SaskTel says these communities will now have some of the faster speeds offered in the province.

The three were among four locations announced, along with Tuxford, near Moose Jaw, that will soon have download speeds between 25 and 50 megabytes per second. The package, known as interNET Extended 25 and 50 is coupled with a streaming TV service.

That service was offered in Leader in November, and Maple Creek and Shaunavon in June.

The agency says the package is now available in 340 communities. It plans to invest $324 million across Saskatchewan in 2020-21 as part of $1.6 billion in upgrades province-wide by 2025.

Late last year, SaskTel announced it would commit $50 million toward its Rural Fibre optics network that can provide up to 300 mbps service, including the expansion to Biggar by 2022. Another $70 million will be spent on upgrading cell towers in rural communities by next summer.

Earlier this month SaskTel announced that it had completed 23 previously announced cell tower upgrades to 4G LTE service, including one in Climax.