Residents of rural southwestern Saskatchewan know how difficult finding a fast and reliable internet service provider is, but for some areas in the province, new infrastructure is on the way to make some improvements.

SaskTel announced on Friday that the communities of Pennant and Prelate would be getting internet towers as part of a four-phase program.

The expansion is part of a 2017 announcement from the Saskatchewan government outlining a plan for improved wireless connection coming to the province.

Doug Steele, the MLA for the Cypress Hills area, said he was pleased to see a pair of projects coming to his riding.

"We're planning on opening towers across Saskatchewan to service rural communities and communities in general," said the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. "These were the two that were the first ones out of the gate."

These two towers join around 50 other towers that are now launched as part of the program, with about 100 planned to be commissioned.

"Some of these towers are in existence already," Steele commented. "They're just adding more infrastructure to [them.]"

The program may also construct brand new towers to ensure the spread of wireless communications.

The towers will provide 4G LTE service.

Steele said that the faster internet would hopefully help the business atmosphere in the southwest, as well as attract potential residents.

"When people move into rural areas, they look to see whether the communities have schools, and what types of services they have. Now with the technology age that were in, these are things that can help with accessing a lot of those types of things, whether it's educational or just communications with family."

Responding to complaints from those in rural communities about wireless communications, Steele said that the Saskatchewan government has been listening to their concerns.

Some communities such as Hodgeville have entered into internet cooperatives to bring wireless infrastructure to their communities due to lack of action on the province's part.