SaskTel plans to deploy LTE in 2012 in Saskatchewan region in Canada. SaskTel has already begun work on LTE planning, infrastructure development and internal system work.  

Phase 1 of LTE deployment will begin in the fall of 2012 to Regina and Saskatoon, and surrounding areas.  LTE will be deployed to other urban and rural areas starting in 2013 based on the demand for incremental data services and it anticipated that LTE for voice will also begin to be deployed in 2013.

“LTE technology will significantly improve the customer experience and will provide our customers with data speeds of up to 5 times faster than our existing 4G network. The initial LTE phones will be compatible with the 4G network and will seamlessly transmit voice over the 4G network and data over LTE until LTE is set up for both voice and data,” said Bill Boyd, Minister Responsible for SaskTel. 

SaskTel’s existing HSPA network reaches download speeds of up to 21 Mbps and LTE will reach download speeds of over 100 megabits per second (Mbps) and 50 Mbps upload.