Cell Phone Service Coming to Northwest Sask.

Cell Phone Service Coming to Northwest Sask.

Monday, July 21, 2003 at 13:57

Several northwest Saskatchewan communities are finally getting cell phone coverage.

SaskTel announced this morning that it will soon be expanding its digital cell phone network into the communities of Beauval, Buffalo Narrows, Ile-a-la-Crosse, La Loche and Onion Lake.

Right now, very few northern communities have cell phone service — La Ronge and Creighton are the only ones.

SaskTel plans to expand to the new communities within the next 12 months, but says it could happen by the end of this year.

Northern Affairs Minister Buckley Belanger says this is great news for the affected communities, and says there will be even more northern communities getting the service in the not-too-distant future.

As part of the expansion, SaskTel will also be converting the analog cell phone service currently being offered in La Ronge to digital cell service within the next 2 months. The conversion will also include the highway corridor from La Ronge to Prince Albert.