Why Saskatchewan Needs To Sell ISC

Information Services Corporation of Saskatchewan will soon to put up for sale despite objections from the official opposition and labour unions. The Governing Saskatchewan Party promotes the sale of ISC to private investors as an opportunity for ISC to grow and expand beyond operating the land titles and vital statistics systems for the provincial government.

In order ot diversify from a resource based economy and embrace what is often dubbed the knowledge economy expanding the information technology industry is one of the vital first steps.  The announcement by Fujitsu Canada of their proposed  data centre near Regina shows interest within IT companies in growing their operations in Saskatchewan.

Selling ISC is a key to the growth of the Information Technology industry in Saskatchewan to show the industry that the mentality of the Romonow-Calvert era of we are the government that taxes you, regulates you and also competes against you is over.  Today's Saskatchewan is open for business without government getting into your business.

If You're Trying To Find A Microsoft Surface Tablet In Canada...

Microsoft's better late than never entry into the tablet market arrived a few weeks ago, for those potential buyers of the Microsoft Surface tablet have been doing more searching than buying. An online check at Walmart, Best Buy, London Drugs, Future Shop, and The Source shows that none of these big five retailers do not even carry Surface tablets. The only retail store that sells Microsoft's tablet is the Microsoft store. With only one Microsoft store in the entire country, it makes this Canadian think that the tablet market North of the 49th parallel doesn't really matter to the executives in Redmond.

For those who are not within convenient driving distance from the Microsoft Store in Toronto, the alternative for those who really want a Surface tablet is to order it online at microsoft.ca.  Selling at $519 the equivalent of an entry level iPad not including shipping charges.  For Microsoft, launching the Surface in a market that is dominated by the iPad and Android tablets, keeping the retail sales of Surface tablets within their own sales channels will end up hurting a product they are trying to launch into an already crowded market.

Rogers Beats Sasktel Bringing LTE To Saskatchewan

The wait for Long Term Evolution (LTE) the true fourth generation of cellular communications in the land of the living skies is over.  On Monday, October 1st. Rogers Wireless turned on LTE service in Regina and Saskatoon.  For iPad 3 and iPhone 5 users subscribers on Rogers will get the faster download speed that LTE brings. 

Subscribers on other carriers should get LTE service eventually.  Telus and Bell have been rolling out LTE across Canada, but in Saskatchewan Bell and Telus may have to wait for their landlord, Sasktel to upgrade their tower sites for LTE.  So far, Sasktel hasn't given a straight answer when LTE service on their network will launch. 

Sasktel subscribers will waiting later rather than sooner for several reasons, radio frequency spectrum allocated for LTE is currently being used for an aging fixed point wireless broadband system that Sasktel was starting to phase out and then had to give a one year extension ties up that frequency band for that year. 

Sasktel's growing debt load will further inhibit LTE upgrades.  Upgrading their HSPA cellular network upgrade and their recently announced fibre to the home upgrade will put the provincial government owned telco a billion dollars in debt, making securing financing another upgrade to the cellular network more difficult.   

Delays by Sasktel may force Bell to invoke a clause in their tower sharing agreement with Sasktel that allows Bell to install equipment on Sasktel's tower sites to begin offering LTE on their own.  As demand grows for the increased bandwidth on mobile devices that LTE delivers, switching providers maybe the price to pay to access the extra speed that LTE delivers.  That's the price that early adopters often pay.