CanadaB次元官网网址檚 industry minister has directed the countryB次元官网网址檚 major telecom companies to reach agreements on emergency roaming, assisting each other during outages and a communication protocol to better inform Canadians during emergencies.
Fran莽ois-Philippe Champagne also said that CanadaB次元官网网址檚 broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, will investigate the recent massive Rogers Communications outage.
Champagne made the announcement on Monday after a meeting with executives of the major telecom companies. The aim of the meeting was to B次元官网网址渄emand they take immediate action to improve the resiliency and reliability of our networks,B次元官网网址� he said.
B次元官网网址淭he 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-size businesses and payment systems,B次元官网网址� he said on Twitter.
The minister said the agreements between the telecoms companies on emergency roaming and other policies must be in place within 60 days. Emergency roaming would give customers the ability to switch to another carrier during an outage.
B次元官网网址淭his is just a first step,B次元官网网址� Champagne added. B次元官网网址淐anadians 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.B次元官网网址�
The widespread Rogers service outage began on Friday morning and lasted at least 15 hours, knocking out access to many health-care, law enforcement and banking services.
Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri has attributed the outage to a network system failure after a maintenance update, adding that the B次元官网网址渧ast majorityB次元官网网址� of customers were back online.
But some customers reported service disruptions stretching into Sunday, and Rogers issued a statement acknowledging some were still experiencing service disruptions it described as intermittent.
In a statement, Conservative industry critic G茅rard Deltell said Canadians should get an explanation of what happened as well as what steps are being taken to ensure the outage doesnB次元官网网址檛 occur again.
B次元官网网址淩ogers and officials from the government need to publicly answer these questions,B次元官网网址� said Deltell.
The NDP had called for the Liberals and CRTC to launch a formal investigation into the Rogers outage.
B次元官网网址淢inister Champagne meeting with Rogers as a top priority shows that the Liberals are fixated on protecting the profits of telecom giants instead of helping Canadians,B次元官网网址� said NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh in a statement before the ministerB次元官网网址檚 announcement.
B次元官网网址淲e will be looking at bringing Rogers, Interac and Minister Champagne to committee to figure out what happened, and to make sure this never happens again.B次元官网网址�
Keldon Bester, a fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and the co-founder of the Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project, said the outage highlights the need for more competition in Canadian telecommunications.
B次元官网网址淚t would be incorrect to say a lack of competition caused the blackout,B次元官网网址� said Bester. B次元官网网址淏ut a number of elements of our telecommunications regulation as well as the competition system increase the scope of the alarm when it occurs.B次元官网网址�
Although increasing competition is the most critical avenue of action in BesterB次元官网网址檚 view, he said there are other policies that can help mitigate the impact of outages, including allowing emergency roaming and addressing condominium exclusivity requirements.
A Rogers spokesperson said in a statement ahead of MondayB次元官网网址檚 meeting that the company and other industry peers will meet with Champagne B次元官网网址渢o discuss increasing CanadaB次元官网网址檚 telecommunications network resiliency.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淲e are supportive of initiatives that further strengthen CanadaB次元官网网址檚 critical telecommunication infrastructure.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址擭ojoud Al Mallees, The Canadian Press
