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

Industry committee  Certainly the notion that we have to lose 25% market share before we can fully compete is extremely problematic for us as a smaller company. Today, the economics work for SaskTel as a crown corporation; we're able to provide high levels of service to the most sparsely populated

Industry committee  We competed in New Zealand in the 1990s. We had a cable partner in Wellington, and we went in and competed against Telecom New Zealand. There wasn't even a regulator in place when we first went in; there was only the threat of regulation. We were able to negotiate agreements wi

Industry committee  I think it would be both. I didn't intend to be facetious, either, in terms of the fact that Saskatchewan is flat, but it does give you much better coverage when you don't have deep valleys, and in some cases, the trees tend to soak up the signal. Again, southern Saskatchewan d

Industry committee  Yes, for sure. The differences among the regions are substantial, and that's one of the things we face with the CRTC all the time. We end up with one-size-fits-all and it ends up not fitting anybody, or certainly it doesn't end up fitting Saskatchewan. So I would agree that certa

Industry committee  We certainly will continue to be supportive of the federal government moving on all of the TPR recommendations. To hold off any meaningful reform until legislation gets passed through the House, or the new competition tribunal gets set up, to me is so far off into the future as t

Industry committee  In terms of the first question, the 5% number is total substitution. Those are people who do not have land lines, people who've decided that a wireless phone, a cellular, fulfills all their needs and they abandon their land line completely. As my son would say, “My house doesn't

Industry committee  Yes, we do. We provide wireless service.

Industry committee  We have a very competitive cellular marketplace in Saskatchewan. We do have the lion's share of the market, which means that the competitors can launch plans in Saskatchewan without regard for their base of customers. Over the Christmas period, Telus had a $15 plan in the Saska

Industry committee  Yes, in Saskatchewan we do have the advantage of being flat.

Industry committee  We're still a crown corporation.

Industry committee  Certainly the first comment I would make is that being forborne is not automatic. It doesn't occur on day one. You have to actually apply to the commission. The commission will have some sort of a proceeding to determine whether or not to forbear in that particular jurisdiction,

Industry committee  I would have a problem with that. The length of time it would take to implement the entire report would I think be counted in a matter of years as opposed to a matter of months. I think the current state of affairs in terms of forbearance and the decision of the CRTC is such that

Industry committee  Thank you for the opportunity to reappear before the committee. Today, I would like to focus on three areas that have come to dominate the committee’s deliberations. First, we would like to provide our views on how competition is unfolding in rural Saskatchewan. The cable comp

Industry committee  Our position at SaskTel hasn't changed since we appeared before the Senate committee that looked at it. We don't support foreign ownership changes.