A $660 million 5G rollout project from SaskTel is nearly complete.  

The rollout, which began four years ago with a tower in Regina, has now expanded to over 950 sites across the province- over half of them rural. As part of the latest expansion, 160 additional communities received access to 5G in the last ten months, including Young, Landis, Annaheim, Carnduff, and Radville.  There is a full list available here. 

CEO of SaskTel Charlene Gavel explains that the public is receiving far more than just faster internet when a 5G tower goes up in their community.  

“The importance of the connectivity throughout the provinces is key for online learning, for businesses, for health care.” She adda that agriculture and industry also have applications where a demand for high-speed automation is evident.

Gavel explains that 5G is able to deliver internet at 1.2 gigabits per second, which is 20 to thirty per cent faster than 4G. 

 “4G was the era of the apps, the era of streaming and downloading. 5G will be so much more than that, and so much more to come in terms of what it can do. Think about immersive technologies, smart technologies, and self-driving cars.”

Gavel says this announcement brings the total portion of the population covered by 5G to 99 per cent. There are still about 100 towers to be installed, and she assures that the remaining one per cent of the province that is currently going without the network will receive it by the end of 2027.  

The entire 5G rollout project will cost $660 million when it’s all said and done.