OTTAWA – Canada’s major telecommunications providers have agreed on an initial five-year term to allow customers to roam on each others’ networks on an emergency basis in the event of a major network outage to ensure Canadians are not left out of essential services, such as 911 access, according to a formal agreement announced Wednesday by the Minister of Innovation.
The companies, including Bell, Rogers, Telus, and Shaw, have also committed to assisting each other in such an event and also “to providing clear and timely communications to keep Canadians and appropriate authorities informed about response and restoration during major network outages,” said the news release announcing the agreement, which was spawned following a network outage that affected Rogers’s customers in July.
Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he convened a meeting with Canada’s major telecom service providers three days after Rogers experienced a nationwide network outage on July 8 that knocked out wireless and wireline services for more than 15 hours. The service outage affected government, money processing systems, 911 services, and emergency alerts.
“I directed them to take immediate action to improve network reliability across Canada, giving them 60 days to enter into a formal agreement to ensure and guarantee emergency roaming, mutual assistance, and a communications protocol for advising the public and government during major outages and other emergencies,” Champagne said in Wednesday’s release.
In the memorandum of understanding, the parties cite work by the Federal Communications Commission in the United States to establish procedures “providing reasonable roaming under disaster arrangements when technically feasible, establish “mutual aid arrangement during emergencies,” and ensure public and government awareness through communications.
The providers will enter into bilateral emergency roaming agreements within nine months, according to the MOU, which will trigger only after best efforts are taken to restore the network. The parties will have to submit a report within 30 days after the end of the emergency event.
The parties will also need to share with each other physical assets in the event of said emergency, including buildings and vehicles, equipment, human resources, licensed spectrum, and access to 911 networks where applicable. Payment of support will be made by the receiving party within 90 days of receipt of invoice from the responding party, the MOU said.
After the five years, the MOU will be automatically extended for successive one year renewal terms until terminated.
Measures only “first step”
But Champagne said the measures are “only a first step,” according to the release, as he said the telecom resiliency agenda will include “robust networks and systems, coordinated planning and preparedness, [and] strengthening accountability.”
Champagne said further measures will need to be taken. He said he directed the Canadian Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, of which the major telecoms are a part, to come up with measures within six months to further beef up telecom resiliency; said Innovation has been instructed to “review all appropriate regulatory measures” to make networks more reliable and safe; and held a delegation this summer to work on a Public Safety Broadband Network, which he said is a priority.
The agreement comes days after Pelmorex, the operator of the national emergency alert system, suggested to the CRTC that better communications could be facilitated in the case of a network outage. It put forth ideas including “protocols and procedures” for distributors to inform it about any disruptions to the delivery of alerts, and “establish agreements” or memoranda of understanding through which the broadcasters “would commit to providing notification when they become aware of any alert distribution issue.”
Photo of Francois-Philippe Champagne
