SaskTel announced last year that they would be upgrading towers throughout Saskatchewan which will aim to provide rural communities with better cellular and high-speed internet. 

"What we're looking at doing," explained Michelle Englot, Director of External Communications for SaskTel, "is adding our 4G LTE cellular services in 43 rural communities throughout rural Saskatchewan. This will be done by the construction of a small, cell site tower in each of these locations."

She added that it will improve the 4G cellular services within those areas.

"This is Phase 2 of the Government of Saskatchewan's four-phase initiative which is to add 4G LTE cellular service in 100 locations. These are the first 43."

Phase 1 was the expansion of the Fusion Internet network which has been completed.

"Phase 2 is going to take us until the end of 2020. Phase 3 and Phase 4 are essentially working with independent providers in Saskatchewan to identify opportunities to improve wireless beyond that."

She did mention that they go through an extensive public consultation process in order to construct the towers in any of the locations. 

“Our government understands that having access to fast and reliable communications services are vital in today’s digital world,” Minister Responsible for SaskTel Don Morgan said. “This most recent round of wireless upgrades from SaskTel will greatly benefit many residents, farms, and businesses who call rural Saskatchewan home.”

“Today’s announcement further demonstrates our commitment to deliver world-class communications services to our customers throughout the province,” SaskTel Acting President and CEO Doug Burnett said.  “These upgrades will help bolster our network and add capacity to address the ever-growing demand for wireless data.”

These upgrades to the 43 communities are expected to be completed by the end of March 2019. The remaining 57 locations that still require upgrades will be announced at a later date. 

courtesy Saskatchewan Government