“Unacceptable”: Feds demand action from big telecoms after massive Rogers network outage

Jul 11 2022, 10:03 pm

As some Canadians are still struggling with service related to the Rogers network outage, the Government of Canada is contemplating how to avoid scenarios like it in the future and increase reliability.

The federal minister responsible for innovation, science, and industry in Canada held a meeting with the heads of the major telecom companies to avoid situations like the Rogers outage that impacted millions last week.

François-Philippe Champagne shared some details from the meeting with the major telecoms on Twitter on Monday afternoon.

In the wake of the Rogers outage that had far-reaching consequences across Canada, Champagne stated that he demanded that major telecom companies take immediate action to improve both the resilience and reliability of Canadian networks “by ensuring a formal arrangement is in place within 60 days.”

While these companies like Rogers, Bell, and Telus are regularly used to competing for market share, Champagne says they’ll have to work together in order to prevent another catastrophe like the Rogers outage which impacted debit services at businesses, ATM withdrawals, phone and internet service and even impacted the ability for many to call 911 for emergency purposes.

It even forced the cancellation of the Weeknd concert in Toronto.

I directed the companies to reach agreements on (i) emergency roaming, (ii) mutual assistance during outages, and (iii) a communication protocol to better inform the public and authorities during telecommunications emergencies,” said Champagne.

He added that the CRTC is also looking into the outage in a separate investigation.

The national outage of telecom services that millions of Canadians experienced in the last few days is unacceptable. Full stop. It affected people across the country, emergency services, small and medium-sized businesses, and payment systems.”

He went on to say that this is only the beginning.

This is just a first step. Canadians deserve more from their providers in terms of quality and reliability of service and I will ensure they meet the high standard that Canadians expect, including improving competition, innovation, and affordability.

Amir AliAmir Ali

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