SaskTel is gearing up to meet its competition and their customers' demands by engaging in its largest-ever upgrade, the Next-Generation Access Infrastructure (NGAI) project, currently underway, said president and CEO Robert Watson during a recent visit to Weyburn.

He was in the city to meet with the 37 full-time SaskTel employees based in Weyburn, and he took some time to meet with local media and talk about plans for the coming year for the Crown corporation.

The NGAI enhancement is upgrading the network with 40-meg lines to be able to handle multiple applications through one telephone line, including high-definition TV through their Max service, high-speed Internet (including wireless service) and telephone service, along with such services as WebCall, HomeNet and Centrex IP, for both home and business. Watson noted high-definition TV alone takes up about 10 megs of capacity on 27 channels.

Along with this upgrade, the number of communities with access to high-speed Internet continues to increase, with 86 per cent of all Saskatchewan residents to have access to high-speed, said Watson, plus for those communities that have high-speed, the speed is increasing.

Watson said that every community of 200 or more, plus every community with a school, will have access to high-speed Internet.

"The next big thing for wireless is Wiremax; it's the next generation of wireless, allowing you to do computer work or TV on the same service. It's about two to three years away," said Watson, adding the consumer demand is also for more broadband service for Internet or for Max or for wireless services.

SaskTel is also continuing to invest in their cellular network as they work on filling in areas that are more transitory, as they are sparse for population, but through which a high number of travellers are driving and want the service to be available.

Cellular service is currently available to about 93 per cent of the province, and in the next year this will grow to about 95 per cent with $28 million being spent to increase the coverage with more towers.

The new competition for SaskTel are private carriers for local phone lines, with cable companies like Shawn and Access soon to be able to carry local phone service as SaskTel has been invading the cable companies' turf with its Max TV services.

Watson feels SaskTel will continue to be able to compete well, noting their local line price is one of the lowest in Canada, plus long-distance service was recently reduced in price, so it's already a good value.

"You'll get a certain number of people who will try the competition; you won't be able to change that. We think with our commitment to the community and our investment in the province, with dividends paid back to the province, people will choose us," said Watson, adding that SaskTel contributes about $672 million to Saskatchewan's economy through wages along with goods and services bought in the province.

In terms of employment, Watson said SaskTel is facing what every major corporation is facing in the next five years, namely a significant number of employees who will be retiring.

"We're either having to re-educate our employees, or are getting employees with new skills. We have a long-standing tradition of not having any layoffs in the corporation," said Watson.

An aspect the company is proud of is their environmental strategy, through which they expect to have $1.2 million in savings over 10 years. They are currently in their second year of their new strategy.