Canada’s SaskTel has started rolling out a fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network called ‘infiniNET’ in its home province of Saskatchewan, offering downstream speeds of up to 60 Mbps.

The roll-out is expected to take seven years to complete, targeting the nine largest urban centres in the province (Saskatoon, Regina, Moose Jaw, Weyburn, Estevan, Swift Current, Yorkton, North Battleford, and Prince Albert) and costing CAD 670mn (US$ 675mn).

Work has already started in the urban centres of Regina and Saskatoon, and the operator expects its new FTTP network to pass more than 40,000 homes by the end of this year.

Meanwhile, rival operator Bell Aliant has already started pushing fibre broadband hard: it is investing C$350m in fibre-to-the-home between 2011 and 2012, and had already passed 537,000 homes/businesses by the end of 2011 (a 49 per cent rise year-on-year).