麻豆影视

Skip to main content

Champagne directs major telecoms to come up with agreement on future outages

Share

Canada鈥檚 Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he has tasked Canada鈥檚 major telecommunications networks with establishing a formal agreement to mitigate the damage of future outages.

Following a closed-door meeting with the CEO of Rogers and the heads of other telecommunications service providers on Monday, Champagne told reporters he鈥檚 given the group 60 days to consider emergency roaming, mutual assistance during outages, and building out a communication protocol to better inform the public and authorities of any emergencies.

Champagne said during the teleconference it鈥檚 a 鈥渇irst step鈥 to tackle the resiliency and reliability of the sector.

The Rogers outage began early Friday morning and lasted about 15 hours, impacting millions of households and businesses. It also hampered customers鈥 ability to use emergencies services like calling 911.

Rogers says the 鈥溾 was triggered by a maintenance update to the core network, which caused routers to malfunction.

While the company confirmed on Saturday most of its system was restored to the vast majority of customers, some are still reporting problems.

Champagne said he relayed to Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri his expectation that the company will compensate all those impacted.

鈥淚 expressed the frustration of millions of Canadians, I told him, this was unacceptable, full stop,鈥 he said.

Staffieri said in his July 9 statement that the company will 鈥減roactively鈥 credit all customers for the network outage, which will be automatically applied to individual accounts.

鈥淲e understand the significant impact Friday鈥檚 outage had on Canadians. We are committed to taking every step within our control to ensure it doesn鈥檛 happen again,鈥 Staffieri said in a statement Monday, after his meeting with Champagne.

He also mentioned that all impacted customers will be credited, but didn鈥檛 provide further details on the reimbursement plans. 

The minister also announced that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) would be investigating the source of the outage.

鈥淐RTC inquiry will be one which will certainly inform the root cause and propose remedial action and we'll take it from there. But certainly with a spirit of always doing more and using all the tools that we have as regulator to demand on behalf of Canadians that the networks are more resilient,鈥 he said.

The event has brought about renewed calls for enhanced competition in the telecommunications space to mitigate the widespread impact of a future network failure.

Asked about what the government plans to do on this file, Champagne referred back to a published on May 26.

While light on detail, the policy would entail the CRTC 鈥渋mprove support鈥 for service providers that want to offer internet and mobile services at lower cost to Canadians.

鈥淚t says very clearly, what is in my mind, in terms of what needs to happen in Canada, which is additional competition, and always striving for more affordability,鈥 Champagne said.

The outage happened against the backdrop of a pending telecommunications merger that would see Rogers buy Shaw Communications for $20 billion, if approved.

The industry minister weighed in on the issue on Monday, noting Ottawa won鈥檛 allow a deal without conditions being met.

鈥淚've said very clearly and openly that I will not allow the wholesale transfer of licences from Shaw to Rogers, and I think this is well understood. And the framework of mine, when I look at these things, is all about affordability, affordability, affordability and competition,鈥 he said.

Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner, former industry critic, tweeted on Friday that she wrote to all members of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology to hold an emergency meeting about the outage and sector competition more generally.

鈥淭his outage underscores another potential risk provided by the current federal regulatory structure. That is, potential significant national vulnerability to a prolonged service outage given the lack of diversity in Canada鈥檚 telecommunications providers,鈥 .

The NDP also released a statement responding to the events and criticizing the government鈥檚 decision to meet with Rogers.

鈥淢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. People need accountability here鈥 what happened was unacceptable,鈥 a statement from Leader Jagmeet Singh reads.

It goes on to state that the NDP will also look to bring Champagne and others before committee to get answers.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

How to win the fight with kids over phone use

The end of the day 鈥 when school, extracurricular activities and homework are (hopefully) finally done 鈥 is the window that many kids have for downtime. It can be a struggle to convince them not to go on their phones.

Tattoos are becoming more common in today's society and, as a result, appear to be more acceptable in the workplace than they used to be.

Local Spotlight

Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

Stay Connected