Canada’s telecom regulator says SaskTel can stop printing phone books. For now, they’re continuing.

Canada's telecom regulator has agreed to strike down a rule requiring SaskTel to provide a free phone book to every customer.

Canada’s telecommunications regulator has ruled SaskTel is no longer legally required to print an annual paper phonebook, but Saskatchewan’s Crown telecom says it won’t be going out of print yet.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) made the ruling in an Aug. 15 decision based on an application from SaskTel. In its March application, SaskTel pointed to similar orders approved for other phone providers across the country, including subsidiaries of Bell Canada, which owns CTV News.

Under the now-defunct rule, every SaskTel customer was entitled to receive at least one copy of the telephone directory per telephone, free of charge.

According to SaskTel spokesperson Greg Jacobs, this is far from the end of printed phone books in Saskatchewan — but it clears the path if they choose to stop in the future.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that we are going to stop or change the way that we distribute phone books,” Jacobs explained.

“It just provides SaskTel with the flexibility to evolve the way we distribute phone books in the future.”

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The decision was not without its critics within the CRTC.

In a dissenting opinion, Commissioner Bram Abramson acknowledged the era of the phone book has been “winding down for some time.”

“In 1909, when then-Governor-General the Earl Grey (of Grey Cup, though not tea, fame) and then-Premier Walter Scott laid the cornerstone of Saskatchewan’s Legislative Building, they inserted a time capsule. It remained nestled, and undisturbed, until the 2011 run-up to the legislative centenary. Among the items unearthed was a 1909 book listing government offices and their phone numbers,” wrote Abramson.

“The artifact was a century old and had been chosen to represent another era. But it held little mystery. Over the century that separated the capsule’s gifters from its recipients, generations had grown up using ever-thicker versions to look up neighbours, find a locksmith, block pucks, or see over a steering wheel. It was a phone book.”

For the roughly half of Saskatchewan residents who live in the province’s two largest cities, Abramson says it’s likely hard to imagine why anyone would still need a phone book.

“Wherever mobile and broadband services, and the software-based applications that these enable, have displaced the landline — the need for a phone book as waned accordingly,” he said.

But where wireless and broadband service is lacking — “landlines often remain critical.”

In this and earlier decisions to remove phone book requirements, Abramson alleges the CRTC has essentially failed to consider or appropriately survey the consumers in remote areas of the country who will be most deeply affected by the change.

“We consult to hear the perspectives of others, not to echo our own,” he wrote.

“Our responsibility as regulators is to ensure we hear from a full range of interveners, not just frequent or experienced ones, who generally hail from industry.”

Over at SaskTel, Jacobs maintains the company currently has no plan to change its system of printing the directory.

According to Jacobs, nearly 12,000 businesses in the province advertise in a phone book.

“From a small business perspective it’s a really great way to reach out to potential customers, or those who might be in your community may not have heard of your service.” Jacobs said.

“It’s also a good tool for anyone who might not be as comfortable with technology as younger generations are.”

According to Jacobs, 465,000 phone books were printed in Saskatchewan in 2024. Anyone not interested in receiving a phone book can opt out on the Direct West website. The books are 100% recyclable, including the ink, which is made from soy and vegetable oils.