New Brunswick is putting pressure on cellphone companies to improve service in rural areas by offering them a major incentive—a five-year contract to provide mobile service for 15,000 government devices, including smartphones and tablets.
The catch? To win the deal, companies must show how they will boost coverage in areas where cell service is currently unreliable or nonexistent.
Deputy Finance Minister Travis Bergin, who experiences these coverage gaps himself on his daily commute, told politicians that some dead zones last for several kilometres, leaving people without service for 15 minutes or more. The province issued a request for proposals last year and expects to choose a provider by this spring. Four companies have submitted bids, reports the Telegraph-Journal.
However, Bergin warned that solving the problem won’t happen overnight. Building a single cell tower takes up to 18 months, and the province can’t expect perfect reception everywhere.
Only four providers have towers in the province. Rogers, Telus, Bell and Eastlink. The majority of towers in the province belong to Rogers and Bell. Eastlink has some in major urban areas, while Telus has just one that’s located north of Edmundston.
New Brunswick recently conducted its own study to get a clearer picture of the problem. Provincial workers drove over 15,000 km to test service on every paved road in the province. The results showed that while 83% of New Brunswick has good coverage, 17% still has poor service or complete dead zones. These findings outed the CRTC’s claim that the province had 99.5% cell coverage as totally false.
These gaps are particularly noticeable in rural areas, including the long stretch between Fredericton and Saint Andrews, parts of Albert County, and the Acadian Peninsula.
To help fill these gaps, the province has offered cell companies access to its 50 emergency radio towers, which could significantly improve service at a fraction of the cost of building new ones. But there’s no guarantee that carriers will take advantage of this opportunity. Even if the government covered the full cost, Bergin said companies might still prioritize expanding service in urban areas rather than rural ones.
The issue is more than just an inconvenience—it’s a safety concern. Last year, residents near Hartland missed an emergency alert about an armed suspect because of poor cell service. Green Party deputy leader Megan Mitton called it unacceptable, pointing out that Canadians already pay some of the highest rates for cell service, yet many areas remain underserved.
So what can carriers do to solve connections in rural areas? Aside from cell towers, satellite connectivity is one solution. Rogers has partnered with SpaceX’s Starlink Direct to Cell and that would offer any device coverage across the province. If other carriers sign onto Direct to Cell, that could also bring coverage, but it won’t come for free.
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