SASKATOON – After putting up with years of slow internet, employees and residents on Cameco operating sites in northeastern Saskatchewan are going to be getting high-speed broadband service.
Sasktel, SaskPower and Cameco have teamed up to provide a new fibre network and power facilities stretching 566 kilometres.
The minister responsible for SaskTel Don McMorris said the new facilities will open the northeast to a number of new SaskTel services.
“Saskatchewan needs world-class technology if we are going to continue to excel in a current, competitive global market,” said McMorris.
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The $29.6 million project will bring high-speed bandwidth to all of Cameco’s operating sites in the region, from La Ronge to Collins Bay.
“In the south we take five megabytes or ten megabytes for granted…our high-speed is there and we enjoy it,” said Ron Styles, SaskTel president and CEO.
“In the north it’s not there. Its 1.5 megabytes – so it’s relatively slow – it’s what we call ‘last generation.”
Cameco President and CEO Tim Gitzel says it’s also about providing employees with a good quality of life.
“We’re in a competitive environment here…people have options as to where they want to work, so we have to be at the top of the standards as far as that goes. ”
The Northern Fibre Expansion Project will begin this spring and it’s expected to take two or three years to complete.
The project will bring high-speed internet to more than 25,000 residents.
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