Residents of the southeast corner of the province can breathe a sigh of relief after an announcement today that improved cell service will be coming in the near future.

The provincial government and Bell MTS announced three new LTE advanced cellular towers will be built in the communities of Woodridge, Stuartburn, and Zhoda. Dan McKeen, Vice-Chair of Bell MTS Western Canada, says enhanced service will be available this month in Woodridge and will be launched in Stuartburn and Zhoda in 2019.

This is part of Bell MTS's plan to invest $1 billion over five years to bring next-generation broadband communications networks and services to Manitoba.

Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister was present at the announcement Monday afternoon at the La Broquerie Fire Hall. He says these life-saving improvements have been a long time coming. "We all here in this region know of examples where people have been put in dangerous positions because of the lack of ability to communicate during emergencies," notes the Premier, "we're all familiar with those. We don't want to ever see that happen again, never again." Pallister adds frontline people deserve to be protected because he says who they are out there protecting, is not just themselves but their families and people around them as well.

"Today is a good announcement for those folks too and it's a good announcement for all of us who care about those people who do that important work," says Pallister.

Chris Goertzen, President of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, says these communities have been under-serviced for far too long. He, along with La Verendrye MLA Dennis Smook and Stuartburn Reeve Jim Swiderski reflected back to times of crisis a few years ago when wildfires swept through the region and emergency personnel, as well as residents of the area, were not able to communicate with one another due to the lack of reception.

"How anxious we all were in the southeast at those times when those fires were burning," says Goertzen, "if you would have been here and you would have looked to the south, you would have seen the glow in the sky at night and it was very vital that we needed to have increased and better cell coverage and that was very apparent at that time."

Pallister adds this not only brings peace of mind to residents who live in areas where cell service is weak but says it also helps those municipalities grow, advance economically and potentially attract more business. The Premier adds this is a positive step in the right direction.