Rogers Communications Inc. was unable to switch customers to competing carriers during the unprecedented service outage earlier this month despite offers of assistance from Bell and Telus, the company said in a filing published Friday by the night.
The telecommunications giant was also unable to shut down its radio access network, which would have automatically connected customers to another carrier for 911 calls, Rogers said in a presentation to the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.
The new details offer a glimpse into the multiple options considered by Rogers during the general outage that eliminated mobile, landline and Internet service to millions of customers across Canada on July 8.
It also reveals how their widespread network outage limited their ability to respond with workarounds while restoring service.
As a result, Rogers was unable to route most 911 calls and send four emergency alerts during the outage.
Despite competitors offering assistance during the outage, the company said it was unable to switch customers to a rival carrier.
It said doing so would have required access to parts of its system that were down during the outage.
Competing networks, Rogers said in his presentations, also would not have been able to handle the sudden extra volume of wireless customers, which the company pegged at more than 10 million.
The increase in related voice and data traffic could have impeded operations on the other carriers’ networks, it said.
Meanwhile, Rogers considered shutting down its radio access network during the outage, which would have automatically connected customers to another carrier for 911 calls.
But once again, the company said the outage that brought down its core system made such a shutdown impossible.
Also, shutting down the radio access network would have prolonged the outage because restoring it once the network was fixed would have taken several hours, Rogers said.
“While it was considered many times throughout the day, shutting down the (radio access network) was simply not a solution,” Rogers said in his presentation to the CRTC.
“The best and fastest way to restore 911 was to restore the network itself.”
As a result, Rogers said its radio access network remained in service, preventing many customer phones from automatically trying to connect elsewhere.
Mobile customers always have the option to remove the SIM card from their device and then make a 911 call. The phone will automatically connect to the strongest signal for emergency calls, Rogers said.
Although the number of failed 911 calls is unknown, the company said it was able to route “thousands” during intermittent service on its network. Some Rogers customers were able to make emergency calls using the Bell or Telus networks.
Much of the specific information that Rogers submitted to the CRTC was removed from the document for security and competitive reasons.
Rogers also said that four emergency alerts, all issued in Saskatchewan, did not reach customers during the outage.
He said one RCMP alert was related to a dangerous person, while three were tornado warnings issued by Environment Canada.
Rogers, Bell and Telus are discussing solutions for potential future outages, which are expected to be included in a report to Ottawa this fall.
Rogers has come under intense scrutiny from both customers and the Canadian government following the ordeal, which also affected Interac’s business and debit system.
Chief Executive Tony Staffieri has pledged to improve the resiliency of the company’s Internet and mobile network.
Representatives from the company are scheduled to appear before the House of Commons industry committee on Monday to further discuss the outage.
The committee held an emergency meeting on July 15 and voted unanimously to open an investigation into the outage.
The committee will seek answers about the cause of the outage, its overall effect, and best practices to avoid similar situations in the future and better communicate with the public during such emergencies.
Following the outage, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne directed Canada’s major telecommunications companies to come to agreements to help each other during outages and a communication protocol to better inform Canadians during emergencies.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 23, 2022.
Brett Bundale, The Canadian Press