More cellphone towers needed on P.E.I. to prevent dropped calls, minister says

If you've ever been frustrated when a cellphone call randomly cuts outon Prince Edward Island, this question period was for you.

During Thursday's session of the P.E.I. legislature,Liberal MLA Robert Henderson complained about how manydropped calls he experiences when driving across the province to his O'Leary-Inverness district.

He said the issue seems to be getting worse, adding at one point that people in some rural parts of P.E.I. "have to stand like a flamingo" on top of their kitchen tables to get cellservice.

"This government is responsible to ensure Islanders have responsible telecommunications in this province," Henderson said after some laughter from other MLAs about his flamingo comment.

"What are you doing to ensure that Islanders get what they pay for?"

P.E.I.'s minister of economic development, innovation and trade replied that poor cell reception is a major issue across the Island. Gilles Arsenault saidgovernment officials havemet with phone companies and theCanadian Telecommunications Association (CTA) about the problem.

"I'm on the road like you every day and it is really frustrating," hetold Henderson.

Arsenaultlater added that the government has been meeting specifically with Telus,a major Canadian telecom servicethat is P.E.I.'s primary provider and has a contract with government.

We need to be able to address that tomake sure that our communications system is better for all Islanders. Gilles Arsenault

"We were actually not satisfied with the meeting that we had with them," he said. "We also indicated to them that we know we'rea small fish in the pond here, but we need services."

Arsenault said there are more meetings to come with cell companiesand the CTA in the coming weeks to press the issue and get answers on P.E.I.'s dropped-calls problem.

'We need to have more towers'

In an interview with CBC News after question period, Arsenault said there's been a spike in the number of people complainingto governmentabout dropped calls especially in the last year or so.

He said there are two basic reasons for the dropped-call issue: too much demand, and the fact that P.E.I.'s cellphone towers are aging out.

"The backbone is on the4G system, where we'reright now moving on to a 5[G]," he said, adding that "there is congestion on some of the towers."

Arsenaultsaid cell providers and government officials havedataon the number of dropped calls that could be provided to the public at some point. A spokesperson with the province later said government does not have that data.

The minister said he was not aware of any 911 calls being dropped, saying that's "not problematic at all."

Arsenault said the province is aware of some "dead-zone areas"on P.E.I. where calls frequently drop, listing new ones that have been identified in Cornwall and in Charlottetown'sLower Malpeque Road area.

"We need to have more towers, because more and more what we're seeing is in very common areas where we never had dropped calls before that we have dropped calls now," he said.

"We need to be able to address that tomake sure that our communications system is better for all Islanders."

Saying he's "quite frustrated" that towers can't go up immediately, Arsenault added that he's had good conversations with telecomcompanies who tell him it will get better.