Saskatchewan’s Crown telecommunication corporation has started to roll out it’s fibre optic Internet service for business and private residential use in Moose Jaw.
“We are just starting to begin work on it, so the Fibre to the Business (FTTB) roll out will take us from 2013 through to 2016 to complete (across the province),” said Michelle Englot, the director of external communications for SaskTel.
The roll out of FTTB to nine urban centres — Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Weyburn, Estevan, Swift Current, Yorkton, North Battleford and Prince Albert — is estimated to take four years and cost $32.5 million.
“Moose Jaw is actually ahead (in development),” Englot noted. “We have begun rolling out in Saskatoon and Regina in some areas — in our new areas ... but Moose Jaw will actually be completed (entirely) in 2013, so it will be ahead of all of the other centres in the province.”
Approximately 190 businesses situated within the Moose Jaw downtown core will have their existing DSL service converted this year, enabling speeds of up to 260 mbps initially, with potential for further increases in the future, Englot said.
“It offers speeds that far exceed those of our current network ... basically, what this does is futureproof our network and it will allow us to provide new business services and replace some outdated ones,” she said.
Englot couldn’t reveal any specific details on which services would be replaced and what the new services would be, but said that Moose Javians can expect to see SaskTel crews at work rolling out the new fibre optic network in the coming months.
“We’re beginning the process right now,” she said. “There is a lot of work that is going on on our network across the province. Improving our service for our customers is something we’re committed to, and business customers will see the benefits of that.”
