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CRTC orders Rogers to disclose redacted details on July outage

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) wants Rogers to share more details on its July 8th outage publicly.

The Toronto-based telecom company filed two responses with the Commission following the outage: the first on July 22nd and the second on August 22nd. However, these responses contained vast amounts of redacted information. In some cases, Rogers blacked out entire pages.

The first response contained six appendices marked as confidential. Rogers disclosed additional information from this response on August 12th, including sharing one of the six appendices. For months, five remained away from public view. The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) argued the move wasn’t appropriate, given Rogers addressed some of the information from these appendices in its responses.

In reply, Rogers said disclosing the files won’t help the public understand the outage or what the company is doing to prevent something similar in the future. The company also said even an abridged version of the documents could lead to security concerns.

Now, the Commission is ordering Rogers to file abridged versions of the confidential appendices. “Rogers is reminded that it is expected to disclose information on the public record to the maximum extent possible, given the immense public interest in understanding the facts surrounding the outage.”

The company also has to file an abridged response to two questions the Commission asked in its second round of questions. Rogers has until March 1st to do so. Parties can ask for additional information associated with Rogers’ response by March 8th, with the company responding to questions by March 15th.

However, Rogers has asked the Commission to extend this deadline to March 8th. The company also suggests that the CRTC push the other two deadlines to March 15th and 23rd.

Source: CRTC

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Mobile Syrup

Telecom news round-up [Aug 27-Sept 2]

This past week was a busy one for Canada’s telecom sector.

As an overview, here’s (almost) everything that happened over the past several days:

Business

In a continuing quarrel, Bell has asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to rescind its ruling on Vidéotron’s use of its roaming services. As a recap, Bell filed a complaint in May 2021, stating some of Vidéotron’s customers were permanently roaming on Bell’s network. The CRTC left the issue up to the two companies, stating they should “engage in good-faith negotiations.” Most recently, Bell stated the CRTC erred in its decision and should rescind it.

The Competition Tribunal has ruled Rogers’ July 8th service outage is applicable to hearings about its merger with Shaw. Rogers’ argument the outage wasn’t relevant to concerns brought on by the Competition Bureau was ultimately struck down.

One analyst also believes the merger will go well into 2023. Maher Yaghi, an analyst at Bank of Nova Scotia, says the pushback from the Competition Bureau is one reason the timeline is expanding.

The PIAC is also asking the CRTC to release more details regarding Rogers’ second disclosure of information following the outage. The company’s answers redact various details about its plan to separate its wireless and wireline networks, details PIAC says should be available to the public.

In more news relating to the Rogers outage, Pelmorex Weather Networks confirmed the service blackout didn’t interrupt the National Public Alerting System. It’s likely the service is one of the very few things the outage didn’t impact.

Rogers isn’t the only telecom company to deal with the aftermath of an outage. While not on the same scale, Northwestel’s cellular and internet customers in Iqaluit also faced a service outage earlier this month. The company explains the problem was caused by one customer’s router access. 

In a little over a year, Canadians across the country will have a new number to reach out to for mental health crises and suicide prevention support. The CRTC says residents will be able to call or text 988 for assistance.

Telus selected MATRIXX Software to develop and launch next-gen 5G services. The developments will focus on mobile, Internet of Things (IoT), fixed and cloud services.

Vancouver-based telecom giant Telus also completed the $2.3 billion acquisition of LifeWorks. The company covers the mental, physical, financial and social health of its clients. The acquisition means Telus’ health division now spans 50 million people in 160 countries.

Rogers launched its Wi-Fi modem with Wi-Fi 6E for customers in Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland. The company has also made its 8Gbps Ignite Internet services available for pre-order.

Canadian telecom companies are supporting families impacted by flooding in Pakistan but waiving various fees. Rogers also announced it’s donating $50,000 towards the issue.

Government

Tallcree Tribal Government is working with the CRTC and Telus to connect its residents with wireless services for the first time. The roughly 300 households in Northern Alberta will have access when work is completed in 2024.

The Liberal government is still looking for a replacement for CRTC Chair Ian Scott. The delay means Scott, whose five-year tenure set to end Friday, will remain in the position for another four months.

Infrastructure

Bell announced plans to expand its fibre footprint in rural Manitoba, bringing a pure fibre connection with download speeds up to 1.5Gbps to 6,500 locations.

Bell also announced plans to bring its fibre internet connection to Owen Sound, Ontario. 10,000 locations will be connected by 2023. Bell made both of these announcements under its capital expenditure acceleration program.

Deals

The Pixel 6a, 6, and 6 Pro are on sale at Amazon with discounts ranging between $50 and $230.

Motorola is also offering discounts up to $200 as part of its Labout Day deals.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Mobile Syrup

PIAC asks CRTC to release confidential details from Rogers’ recent filing on July outage

Toronto, Canada-September 29, 2020: Close up of Rogers sign on their headquarters building in Toronto. Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) wants the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to release confidential information Rogers filed on the July 8th service outage.

The disclosure request relates to Rogers’ August 22nd filing to the CRTC, which contains answers from a second round of questions the commission asked the telecom giant.

The PIAC says Rogers redacted critical information the public needs to understand the outage and evaluate the company’s response.

Like Rogers’ first set of responses, the second was also heavily redacted. However, it did reveal the company’s plans to separate its wireless and wireline networks will cost an estimated $261 million, up from the original $250 million estimate.

The PIAC wants the commission to reveal the specifics about the $261 million estimate, timelines to separate the networks, and how separating the networks will improve resiliency, among other information.

“If Rogers’ customers are to, at least in part, foot the bill for these significant remedial projects, then customers should know what they’re paying for and when to expect results,” the PIAC states.

“More detailed explanations of the investment initiatives will also allow the public to comment on whether the claimed investments are effective and proportionate solutions, and to raise questions on whether the stated plans reflect investments that were already planned or necessary prior to the outage.”

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: PIAC

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Mobile Syrup

PIAC calls for the CRTC to release more details on Rogers’ response to July outage

Toronto, Canada-September 29, 2020: Close up of Rogers sign on their headquarters building in Toronto. Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company.

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) wants the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to release more information on Rogers’ response to the July 8th outage.

The “response has excessively redacted critical information that the public requires to understand what occurred during the outage and how Rogers plans to mitigate future risks and harms,” PIAC’s request reads, as reported by Cartt.ca.

Some of the redacted information included the total number of impacted customers, the provinces they resided in, and the number of 911 calls that couldn’t be completed.

PIAC wants the commission to publicly share details on the full outage and recovery timeline Rogers submitted.

“It will be the backbone of any evaluation of the efforts made by Rogers and the sequence of steps taken,” PIAC says of the timeline.

“This will reveal the choices Rogers made and may support conclusions regarding what Rogers chose to prioritize and why and whether those choices appropriately protected customers rather than, say, coveted enterprise customers.”

The Ottawa-based consumer advocacy group also wants details on customer communications and how the outage affected emergency services to be made public.

“The public interest in disclosing the full extent of the impact on and Rogers’ actions to restore access to emergency services far outweighs any specific direct harm that would flow to Rogers,” the PIAC says in its request to the CRTC.

The publicly available information in Rogers’ response detailed what caused the outage and its plans to separate its wireless and wireline core networks.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Via: Cartt.ca