With the recent sale of MTS to telecom giant Bell, SaskTel is left as the only non-national player in the teleservices market in this part of the country. The sale of MTS to Bell was worth $3.9 billion. Bell Canada’s parent company BCE announced that it had closed a deal to purchase MTS for $3.1 billion and assume control of $800 million in debt. The Montreal-based company said in a news release that it plans to invest $1 billion in Manitoba over the next five years and make Winnipeg its western Canadian headquarters.

Jim Reiter said details of the risk assessment will be worked out by SaskTel’s management and board of directors. The report, which is expected within a few weeks, will lay out what, if any, risks the MTS-BCE deal entails for the Crown Corporation in a rapidly-evolving industry. It will also determine the next steps for SaskTel, he added.

“Hypothetically, I guess if it says minimal impact, minimal reaction,” Reiter said. “If there’s considerable impact, we’re going to evaluate it at that time.” That evaluation will not lead to the government privatizing SaskTel, he said.

In March, a few days after the provincial election campaign kicked off, Premier Brad Wall said that, apart from privatizing 40 liquor stores, the government had no plans to sell off any of the provincial Crown Corporations. On Wednesday, Reiter reiterated that promise.

“We’ve been abundantly clear where we’re at with that, about going to the people, about respecting the intent of the (Crown Protection Act),” he said.

If a major national telecommunications service wanted to purchase SaskTel, the asking price would probably be less than the $3.1 billion BCE agreed to pay for MTS. SaskTel was worth about $2.1 billion — with an intrinsic value of between $662 million and $883 million — in 2013, according to a report from the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

“Concerned Saskatchewan taxpayers can now more accurately weigh up what they are currently forgoing, in terms of provincial programs and services, for the sake of retaining ownership of SaskTel,” the report’s author, Ian Madsen, said in a statement at the time.

Premier Brad Wall also stated in his pre-throne speech on May 17th that the risk assessment paints a better picture as to what the company will have to deal with in the next months and years. The premier re-iterated that the govenment is not even able to just go ahead and sell the crown corporation as it is protected by the Crown Corporation Protection Act. Saskatchewan's Crown corporations include SaskPower, SaskEnergy, SaskTel and Saskatchewan Government Insurance.

The Premier also touched on the rural services that SaskTel provides and how it can be improved. Premier Wall also went on to say if the report came back and the people wanted to sell the crown corporation the question would be put to the people of Saskatchewan.