SaskTel is doubling down on fiber-based broadband, announcing plans to invest $55 million on its fiber to the premises (FTTP) consumer and fiber to the business (FTTB) program.
Set to pass over 33,700 homes, the FTTP program will focus on connecting 18,000 more residential customers to its inifiNet brand service in Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert.
While the expanded FTTP network will be able to offer higher speeds than what's available on copper, SaskTel said it will initially deploy up to 260 Mbps with plans to "significantly increase speeds over time." Customers that sign up for infiNET will be able to have seven HD-capable set-top boxes in their homes and the ability to combine Internet speeds with the maxTV offering.
This latest investment builds on the telco's Next Generation Broadband Access Program (2011 - 2017) that it announced in 2011. SaskTel said it would spend $216 million that year and $700 million over the next seven years to build the FTTP network in its nine largest urban centers--Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Weyburn, Estevan, Swift Current, Yorkton, North Battleford and Prince Albert.
The FTTB plan is no less aggressive.
Over the course of seven years, SaskTel will spend $20 million to connect businesses to its fiber network in nine of Saskatchewan's major business centers. It plans to begin converting existing DSL-based business customers in downtown Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Prince Albert.
Besides deepening its business fiber footprint, the service provider plans to launch a Tier II data center in Saskatoon. Out of this center, SaskTel will offer a series of products, including managed hosting and colocation.
For more:
- see the release
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