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Sask. government orders SaskTel to halt plan to charge new fee for email service

SaskTel had announced earlier this week that it would be charging $1.95 per month per address for all existing sasktel.net email addresses.

The decision on Friday will affect about 80,000 Saskatchewan residents, the provincial government said

Alexander Quon · CBC News ·
File - The SaskTel logo on the Crown corporation's head office in Regina, Sask., on Jan. 19, 2023.
The SaskTel logo on the Crown corporation's head office in Regina, Sask., on Jan. 19, 2023. (CBC)

SaskTel will no longer go through with a plan to begin charging a new fee for email service in April.

Don Morgan, the minister responsible for the Crown-owned telecommunications firm, said in a statement Friday afternoon that he has heard the concerns raised by Saskatchewan residents since the decision was announced earlier this week, and instructed SaskTel not to start charging the fee.

The decision will affect about 80,000 Saskatchewan residents, Morgan said.

SaskTel had announced earlier this week that starting in April it would begin charging $1.95 per month per address for all existing sasktel.net email addresses, saying that the industry had changed and the cost to provide the email service without the new charge was no longer justified.

The Crown corporation stopped providing email addresses to new subscribers in January 2022.

SaskTel confirmed the news shortly after Morgan's statement.

The Crown corporation said that it had also heard the feedback from residents and would halt the plan as directed by the Saskatchewan government.

 "We remain firmly committed to serving our customers, and the people of Saskatchewan," the statement read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexander Quon

Reporter

Alexander Quon is a reporter with CBC Saskatchewan based in Regina. After working in Atlantic Canada for four years he's happy to be back in his home province. He has previously worked with the CBC News investigative unit in Nova Scotia and Global News in Halifax. Alexander specializes in data-reporting, COVID-19 and municipal political coverage. He can be reached at: Alexander.Quon@cbc.ca.

With files from Will McLernon

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