July 13, 2022
Canadian telecommunications provider Rogers Communications announced it would offer customers the equivalent of five days’ service after it faced a fierce backlash over a 19-hour outage.
“We know that we need to earn back their trust, and as a first step we will be crediting our customers with the equivalent of five days service,” Rogers said in a statement late Tuesday.
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requires Rogers to provide a detailed account as to “why” and “how” the outage happened. The commission is also asking the company to explain the measures it is taking to prevent future outages.
The CRTC asked Rogers more than 50 pointed questions about the outage. Rogers now has until July 22 to provide its responses, after which the CRTC will decide what additional action needs to be taken.
“Events of this magnitude paralyzing portions of our country’s economy and jeopardizing the safety of Canadians are simply unacceptable,” CRTC said.
The outage could also jeopardize Rogers’ deal to buy Shaw Communications, although the deal was blocked by the antitrust regulator on the grounds that it would weaken competition in the country.
Rogers has about 10 million wireless subscribers and 2.25 million retail internet subscribers.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
