REGINA – Larger rural telephone exchange districts would take a bite out of rural long distance bills, says a Saskatchewan Liberal MLA.
Rod Gantefoer introduced a bill in the Legislature last week to establish regional telephone exchanges which would share the same boundaries as regional economic development authorities.
He said the current system is unfair to rural residents.
“For example, in my constituency of Melfort-Tisdale there are nine different telephone exchanges for about 35,000 people,” he said. “Compare this to Regina and Saskatoon where one exchange serves closer to 200,000 residents.”
Gantefoer said the 40-40 savings plan, which offers 40 minutes of free direct dial long distance calling each month to exchanges within a 40-mile radius of the caller’s exchange area, is not enough because schools, friends and businesses can all be located in a different exchange.
“You can blow that off in no time at all.”
