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The first tower is now in service in the Coventry Place area of Regina. The next three towers are tentatively scheduled to be in service by the first week of December in the Preston Crossing area of Saskatoon, the Saskatoon Airport area, and the Victoria East area of Regina. Seven more towers will be deployed in Regina, Saskatoon and other communities in the coming weeks.
The portable towers, also referred to as COWS (Cellular On Wheels), will improve 4G coverage and capacity in the areas where they're deployed. They will reduce the load on existing towers until new permanent tower sites can be constructed at or near those locations within approximately the next year depending upon the particular location.
"These mobile cell towers will deliver immediate improvements in coverage and capacity for customers in the areas where they are deployed," said Ron Styles, SaskTel President and CEO. "Once we have permanent towers in place in these locations the mobile units will be available for other areas, and also for large events or emergency situations where extra capacity and coverage is needed."
After acquiring the necessary approvals to place the COWS, SaskTel prepares the mobile tower sites by providing power and fiber optic cable connections to the sites. The towers sit on trailers that are towed to the locations. The towers provide 4G service using the 1900 MHz band and typically cover approximately 1,000 metres in diameter around the site, depending upon the surrounding topography.
The portable cellular towers are the latest in a series of ongoing 4G improvements that began in September. More information is available at: sasktel.com/4gimprovements.
About SaskTel
Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation (SaskTel.com) is the leading full service communications provider in Saskatchewan, with $1.1 billion in annual revenue and over 1.4 million customer connections including over 568,000 wireless accesses, 528,000 wireline network accesses, 230,000 internet accesses and 85,000 Max™ (TV) subscribers. SaskTel offers a wide range of communications products and services including competitive voice, data, internet, entertainment, national security, messaging, cellular, wireless data and directory services. In addition, SaskTel International offers software solutions and project consulting in countries around the world. SaskTel and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have a workforce of approximately 4,100 employees.
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andy.tate[.]sasktel.com 
