Better Internet Services in the La Ronge Tri-Community area

I am officially writing this letter in hopes that all three community leaders will notify, in writing, to both SaskTel and Access Cable, our current home internet service providers in our community, that the internet services they provide to our community are terribly slow as compared to other communities of similar size and are significantly smaller.
Wikipedia shows that our Tri-community area is the 14th most populated community in Saskatchewan. Only some of the community can get SaskTel 10Mb service while the rest of the community can only get 5Mb service. Access Cable the maximum service you can get is 15Mb as a service.

Below are a few other communities ranked by population in Saskatchewan and the service that SaskTel offers in the community

* Meadow Lake (#15), Humboldt (#16), Melville (19th), Nipawin (20th), Tisdale (21st), Kindersley (22nd), Esterhazy (26th), Rosetown (27th), Kamsack (37th) and Canora (41st) all have 50Mb service

* Goodeve Saskatchewan (population 40), Guernsey (population 88), Neville (population 80) all have SaskTel 10Mb service

* Weyakwin (population 99) recently upgraded to a 50Mb service by SaskTel.

* All other communities in the top 30 in population in Saskatchewan have a minimum of 25mb service with the exception of Maple Creek (29th) and Pelican Narrows (30th).

Internet is a basic tool for small businesses to compete on the global market. Granted SaskTel can put any business service into any facility across the community, however business solutions are extremely pricy and small businesses cannot afford the several hundreds of dollars/month plus the installation costs for these services. Where home based internet services with greater bandwidth are able to provide the need at a fraction of the cost of business services.

Organizations such as the La Ronge Ice Wolves are unable to provide a quality streaming service for their home games due to this fact. Even the town of La Ronge has facilities that need internet services and cannot get a decent service unless they pay an "Arm and a Leg" for a business solution.

With the better internet services, other benefits to the community happen. SaskTel Select Wi-Fi services could be installed in community facilities such as the Kikinahk Friendship Centre, the La Ronge Medical Clinic and Health Centre, Elks Fair grounds (During the fair) and the JRMCC and the Mel all could receive this free service from SaskTel.

Our individuals who work afterhours require decent internet services at their home so they can complete some of their daily tasks remotely without having to stay at work until 9/10 pm.

I want to thank the Mayor and Council for taking their time to listen to the community members' complaints. I urge the 3 local governments to write a shared letter to both SaskTel and Access Cable indicating the community need for improved Internet access and to have these organizations reply back in writing with their plans to address the concerns of our great northern community.