5G cell towers going up in Fleming and Welwyn
May 19, 2026, 2:38 pm
Donnie Matichuk
The cellular service is about to get a lot better in two rural towns in the area. Two brand new SaskTel towers are currently being installed in Fleming and Welwyn. Many residents of both towns have raised concerns over the sub-par cell service in recent years, and these towers will greatly improve communications.
“The tower in Fleming was finished being built about two weeks ago, although it’s not operational yet. The SaskTel guys showed up with the parts and pieces and dropped them off, and work began last week on Wednesday or Thursday,” said Kendra Lawrence, CAO of the RM of Moosomin.
“There’s a building there now it’ll have their equipment. Off the top of my head, the one at Fleming is taller, at 76 meters, and the one at Welwyn was supposed to be 61 metres. That’s based on their applications for a development permit, which they were granted late last summer.”
Lawrence says that the two communities have always had slow and unreliable cell service. Although the Moosomin cell tower is only 13 kilometres away, Fleming is in a dead-zone because of the way signals arc from the tower.
“Fleming and Welwyn have been needing this service ever since cellular became a thing. We’ve always had very poor service. The only time that we had really good cell service was during Covid, when they stopped arguing about where the signal was coming from and cranked everything up. They stopped that once everything had calmed down. After Covid they reduced it back down to its normal consumption.”
She says that despite being so close to a tower, most of Fleming’s residents have their calls go through other towers much farther away.
“I know for myself, in my own house, I don’t pick up the Moosomin tower. Even though I can see it on a clear day, I pick up the tower in Foxwarren, Manitoba which is over two hours driving away. There are also two major valleys on the way as well.
Lawrence says that her main concern when advocating for better service was communication with first responders and emergency personnel.
“I’m hoping that it is going to fix the issues for first responders in both areas to be able to get the calls and notifications that they are required.
“We had one gentleman that was a first responder in the RM. When he would get the notification, he would drive into town and get the bus, and then go past the other people’s places to get them. They would get in the bus to go respond, and those other few people would get the notification after they left the community. To be blunt, that should never happen. It means lives could be in danger for longer, and it needed to be addressed.”
She has contacted SaskTel many times, and tried to make the issue known.
She noted that the last two MLA’s representing Moosomin-Montmarte have pushed for rural communities being a priority for new cell towers.
“I know that our MLA’s, both Steven Bonk and now Kevin Weedmark, have both pushed for better rural cell service.”
Moosomin-Montmartre MLA Kevin Weedmark said that he met with the RM on the issue and advocated for a solution.
“The issue has been that SaskTel is authorized to provide service only in Saskatchewan, and the CRTC did not want the signal bleeding into Manitoba, and older technology did not allow the signal footprint to be as precise.
“The new equipment going up at Welwyn and Fleming will be more precise and should help cover all of Saskatchewan right up to the border and keep the signal precise enough to satisfy the CRTC.
“I’m happy that SaskTel has been able to fix this issue, which I have heard about from many people along the border and which I have pushed to be addressed.”
Lawrence said the new towers will benefit everyone.
“I hope it’s going to benefit not just the people in Fleming and Welwyn, but it’s also going to benefit some of the rural people, because it can be a struggle to communicate on the farm.
“I know that people in Fleming still have landlines, because we couldn’t have that security that we could call out for help on our cell phones.”
Lawrence says that there are lots of people in town that are anticipating the new and improved service.
“It’s been absolutely fabulous to see them go up. We’re all excited to have the power switch go on and see what kind of service we get. I know that they still won’t be operating for a few months, but they’re committing to it by putting it up early.”
She greatly appreciates the support that RM residents have given to the inititve over the years, and that she is happy SaskTel is willing to work with people in need of their service.
“I want to say thanks for everybody’s hard work that made it happen, and SaskTel for being willing and receptive to the need of the people. We’re looking forward to really good service.”
On SaskTel’s end, they say that the company is happy to be providing these new towers to Fleming and Welwyn.
“We’re continuously evaluating opportunities to improve coverage across the province. The area directly adjacent to the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border is an area that we’ve been looking at for a little bit of time. It’s generally considered a difficult area for us to serve just because of the way that wireless spectrum licensing works in Canada as a regional provider.
“We can provide wireless services within the province of Saskatchewan, but we have to do everything possible to prevent our signals from bleeding over into other provinces. It makes it difficult for us to serve those areas directly adjacent to any of our borders to ensure that we’re on-side with our licensing,” said Greg Jacobs, Corporate Communications Manager for SaskTel.
“We’ve known that these areas, specifically around Welwyn and Fleming, needed some improvements. This year, we’re pleased to be constructing two new cell sites that will drastically improve wireless coverage and service for our customers. It’s going to go a long way in improving the coverage for Fleming, Welwyn, and those travelling along the Trans-Canada Highway.
“We’re going to take these communities from having fringe coverage to very strong coverage. It’s going to be similar to the type of coverage you would expect in Moosomin, or in a larger urban environment.”
Jacobs says that the new towers will have very fast speeds and will be reliable for any sort of internet access.
“Our customers in those communities are going to experience much faster data speeds, because these cell sites are also going to be 5G cell sites. They’re going to have improved connectivity. Whether they’re streaming a hockey game, or if they’re making a phone call, their connectivity is going to go from what it is today to very strong.”
He said that the Fleming site will be especially important because of it’s location on the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border, and the Trans-Canada Highway.
“One of the big considerations with that cell site was the fact that it’s one of the busiest highways in the province. Having strong, continuous coverage from border to border is very important for us, and it is something that will improve with the installation of the cell sites in Fleming and Welwyn.”
He says that SaskTel needed the go-ahead from many different boards and councils before they were able to start building these towers.
“There’s a bit of a long process that we have to follow in terms of getting both community and federal approval to construct cell sites. We can’t just go construct a cell site wherever we want, when we want. We have to go through public consultation and a few other processes, which we completed for both of these cell sites in spring of 2025.”
Jacobs said that the new sites are projected to be done and online in the summer and fall of 2026.
“Construction of the Fleming site is well underway. We expect the Fleming cell site to be in service in either June or July. As for the Welwyn cell site, we’re just really starting that construction process. We’re expecting that site to be in service toward the fall of this year.”
He said that there are other border communities that could still use better service, but that Welwyn and Fleming have been in the works for a while.
“Those are the two biggest ones that we’ve been looking to resolve for the last little bit. Like I said, we’re always looking to find opportunities to improve coverage across the province. Whether it’s along the border or if it’s in another rural area. I can’t point to any other specific projects at the moment, what I can say is that we’re continuously evaluating opportunities to improve coverage for our customers, whether they live in southeast Saskatchewan, the far north, along the border or not, anywhere.”
With these new towers, residents of Fleming, Welwyn, and the surrounding areas will be able to enjoy fast, reliable 5G service.
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