CRTC Approves Local Service Rate Increases

January 30, 2012

SaskTel today announced the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has approved the local service rate increases for consumers in High Cost Serving Areas (areas outside of Saskatchewan's nine largest urban centres).

"The rate increase was essentially required by the CRTC decision that mandated high cost serving area (HCSA) rates needed to increase to an average of $30 per month across the country by June 1, 2013, in order to reduce the amount these rates are subsidized from the National Contribution Fund which is used to subsidize high cost rural and remote consumer services," said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO. "SaskTel has consistently argued that rates in high cost serving areas should be roughly equivalent to rates in urban areas, despite the higher costs associated with serving rural and remote communities, however, this position was not accepted."

In its June 2007 Price Cap Decision, the CRTC reduced the amount of subsidy that SaskTel receives for providing local service to high cost serving areas and indicated that local rates in high cost serving areas should increase annually by the rate of inflation to an average of $30 per month per line. The May 3, 2011 decision (Regulatory Policy 2011-291) now allows the rates to rise to $30 per month in three equal installments, by June 1, 2013.

Each rate increase will range from $.07 to $2.03 per month depending upon the customer's current rate and will be effective February 1st, 2012. The increase will be applied to a customer's bill beginning May 1, 2012, retroactive to the February 1st effective date. The second and third rate increases will be effective and billed on the dates originally proposed by the CRTC; June 1, 2012 and June 1, 2013 respectively. Commencing June 1, 2014, rates may be increased by inflation annually. These rate increases apply to approximately 144,000 customers in High Cost Serving Areas.

About SaskTel
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation (SaskTel) is the leading full service communications provider in Saskatchewan, with $1.1 billion in annual revenue and over 1.4 million customer connections including over 568,000 wireless accesses, 528,000 wireline network accesses, 230,000 internet accesses and 85,000 Max™ (TV) subscribers. SaskTel offers a wide range of communications products and services including competitive voice, data, internet, entertainment, national security, messaging, cellular, wireless data and directory services. In addition, SaskTel International offers software solutions and project consulting in countries around the world. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 4,100 employees.

For media inquiries only, please contact:
Darcee MacFarlane, Corporate and Government Relations
Phone: (306 )777-4441
Email: darcee.macfarlane@sasktel.com