Industry Minister Comments After Meeting with Telecom Executives – July 11, 2022

François-Philippe Champagne, the minister of innovation, science and industry, holds a teleconference following his meeting with executives from Canada’s major telecommunications companies. The meeting was called in response to the July 8, 2022, Rogers outage that left millions of customers without cellphone and home Internet service and crippled networks such as the Interac payment system. The minister is directing the companies to reach a formal agreement within 60 days on emergency roaming, mutual assistance during outages, and a communication protocol to better inform the public and authorities during telecommunications emergencies. Champagne also says that he expects Rogers to proactively compensate customers. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) will also investigate the outage to find its root cause and provide safeguard recommendations.