SaskTel revealed its annual report for the last fiscal year on Monday, posting a net profit of $127.4 million with operating revenue of $1.2 billion.

SaskTel’s report says the ‘strong’ net income is a result of more wireless use, resurgence in internet growth from the crown corporation’s fibre network and other factors.

The net profit is up from the previous fiscal year when the company posted $121 million in revenues.

SaskTel paid $116.3 million to the Crown Investments Corporation in 2018/19, up $26 million from the previous year.

The company identifies the economy, increasing competition and lower profits from wireline services as ongoing challenges to growth.

“SaskTel is working diligently to ensure that Saskatchewan residents have access to a world-class communications infrastructure by continuing to invest in advanced and comprehensive broadband networks throughout the province,” Minister Responsible for SaskTel Don Morgan said in a release. “SaskTel will continue to implement state-of-the-art network capabilities and enhance coverage across Saskatchewan to provide both rural and urban customers with consistent and high-quality broadband connections to service their ever-increasing bandwidth consumption.”

Meanwhile, the head of SaskTel says the corporation will continue moving forward with a “digital transformation strategy” that involves modernizing systems, reducing costs and finding new ways to serve customers.

“To remain successful, SaskTel will focus on delivering an outstanding customer experience, evolving our existing products, developing new IP-based products and managed services, and providing professional services that will help customers implement solutions for their [information and communications technology] requirements,” SaskTel President and CEO Doug Burnett stated.

Major capital programs listed in the report include $62.5 million to upgrade broadband and bring the company’s fibre optic internet service, “infiNET”, to a range of 19 communities across Saskatchewan including Regina, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert.

Some of the modernizations to systems touted in the report include improvements to wireline and wireless networks, improvements to rural infrastructure allowing for more growth of services in those areas, and expansion of northern fibre facilities at a total cost of $59.5 million.

SaskTel's full report can be seen here.