Industry committee  It's certainly a challenge. One of the initiatives for us this year is to focus on innovation, to try to get back to where we were a few years ago when I think we were more innovative as a company. It is hard to say to an organization, to the 5,000 people who work for SaskTel, “Be more innovative.”

Industry committee  Technological change in the telecommunications industry started the day after the phone was invented. So there's a long history of innovation and improvements. I'd say today this is driven primarily by consumers and their needs and demands, and it's centred on the imagination of folks who see the opportunities out there.

Industry committee  We have pursued matters on our own, and are currently in the process of introducing a product called LifeStat, which we developed. It's an electronic remote monitoring of health for individuals using the cellphone and a secure system. We're going to market that right across Canada.

Industry committee  It is a public record that to this point we have not bid outside of Saskatchewan.

Industry committee  Yes, we are one of the bidders.

Industry committee  Still about 10% to 15% of our population don't have access to high-speed Internet in Saskatchewan, so there is still a challenge before us. It's very uneconomic to get there. Today we provide service to most communities of 200 people and more; we're now getting to the point where those remaining unserved are fairly widely dispersed customers, and it's very uneconomic to serve them.

Industry committee  On behalf of SaskTel, I would like to thank the committee for inviting us to appear. Just to orient new members of the committee, SaskTel is the incumbent phone company in the province of Saskatchewan and is owned 100% by the provincial government. On the launch of its study, the standing committee stated that “Science, research and development underpin Canada’s position in the knowledge economy, where strength depends on capacity to innovate and stay ahead of the technological curve.”

Industry committee  We do. I think it was in this very room that we presented that we don't see a real need at this point to get at the foreign ownership issue, and if we do, we think it should be in the context of getting something forward as part of overall trade negotiations. I certainly would caution that we shouldn't leap ahead of the United States, because they still have some restrictions in terms of the ability to hold licences.

Industry committee  Eighty-five percent is not that large a number, but because 42% of our customers are in high-cost rural and remote areas, it's very good. If all you were serving were the urban areas, then you could get 58% of the marketplace pretty easily, but that other 42% would be quite challenging, in terms of being able to provide high-speed to those locations.

Industry committee  The government has had two programs: CommunityNet Phase 1 and CommunityNet Phase 2. Essentially these involved us entering into a five-year agreement to provide high-speed to schools, health facilities, and other government offices in all of the small towns. That contract gave us enough revenue to then be able to expand the broadband.

Industry committee  It does. There was some involvement with the federal government, a small amount of money. The second aspect of that program has involved some wireless high-speed, and that's when you start to get to the farms. In that case, SaskTel ate 100% of the $34 million that went into that program.

Industry committee  It would certainly be nice if all the parties could get together and draft a new Telecommunications Act over a period of months, but from my experience in the industry, it'll be a long period of time before something like that happens.

Industry committee  Not 90 days. I believe other witnesses talked about a few of the states having sort of a 12- or 13-day period of time, in terms of no win-backs. I'm not aware of any others. We view the win-back restrictions as being anti-consumer, in terms of our experience with our marketplace.

Industry committee  I'd say the Government of Canada is in the process of implementing those recommendations that can be easily implemented. I think that was something the Telecommunications Policy Review Panel struggled with, as to how to actually begin to move the yardsticks in terms of regulatory reform.

Industry committee  For sure. I wouldn't agree that it's cherry-picking at all.