It will cost upwards of $100 million to fix the gaps in cellphone service across New Brunswick, the Holt government says. There's a 17 per cent gap in coverage, much larger than previously thought, Finance Minister René Legacy told MPs part of a committee pouring over the details of the recent provincial budget. It prompted Progressive Conservative Saint Croix MLA Kathy Bockus, a member of the committee, to detail an emotional story of a car crash victim in her riding who was found dead clutching his cellphone in one of the province's many dead zones. "If we were to fix everything right now, it would cost over $100 million," Legacy told the Standing Committee on Estimates and Fiscal Policy. "I just want to stress with you, and plead with you, get it done as quickly as possible," Bockus said. "Because in rural areas improved cellphone service is not a convenience, it's a matter of life and death." Visibly emotional, she continued that, several years ago, a young man in her riding was in a car accident. "His car went off the road into the woods and nobody could find him," Bockus said. "So his family started a search and they found him 24 hours later, just by chance. He had made it out of his car and he was found dead at the rear of his car, but he had his cellphone in his hand. "So if he was able to reach somebody, would he still be alive?" Bockus continued: "Just don't think about facts and figures and numbers, I know you do. Think people." Legacy appeared shaken by the testimony, adding that his part of the province, northeastern New Brunswick, has "absolutely terrible" cell coverage. "The member is absolutely right, that's why we want to start attacking it right now," he said. Legacy reiterated testimony from a committee last month, reported on by Brunswick News, where the provincial government is trying to nudge the cell phone companies to do better by offering a big contract for the government's mobile phone services. If they want to win the lucrative, five-year contract for 15,000 mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, and other equipment, they have to show how they'll improve rural service, according to government officials. "I live about an hour outside the city, and I experience the same issue every day coming in to work as many people do," Travis Bergin, the deputy minister of the Department of Finance and Treasury Board, told politicians during a public accounts committee recently in Fredericton. "In some cases, the gap is a few hundred metres and in others several kilometres long where you lose coverage for 15 minutes or more." Bergin said a request for proposals was issued last year, and the province expects to choose a provider this spring. Four companies have submitted bids. "I'm optimistic that it will prove to be fruitful within the next few weeks," the deputy minister said, while warning that a single cell tower takes between a year and 18 months to build. "This will not be an overnight success." In New Brunswick, only four providers have towers - Bell, Rogers, Eastlink and Telus. Most towers in the province belong to Bell and Rogers. Eastlink has a smattering in the biggest urban areas, while Telus has just one, north of Edmundston. All eight cities and the major towns have dozens of towers, but as soon as you move out of them the distances between the steel structures get longer. For years, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission claimed that 99.5 per cent of New Brunswick's population had cell coverage. But Legacy said provincial workers recently travelled every paved road in New Brunswick - more than 15,000 kms - to test cell phone service. That study found that 83 per cent of the province had good coverage, while the other 17 per cent had poor reception and dead zones. He continued that the government has offered to lend what amounts to about 50 radio and communications towers, used by the province for emergency services, to any cell phone providers that want to install their equipment. Bockus said the harrowing story in her riding has prompted a solution that has yet to be acted on. "Just so you know and your department is aware, the Hemlock Knoll Landfill site has offered land free of charge to whatever company that wants to put up a tower because his mom worked there," she said.