Rogers outage: Major telecoms reach deal for services to be available during emergencies – National

The federal Industry Minister says Canada’s major telecom companies have reached a formal agreement to “ensure and guarantee” emergency roaming and other mutual assistance in the case of a major outage.

The deal comes after a massive Rogers Communications Inc. service disruption in July that affected millions of Canadians.

In the days after the outage, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Francois-Philippe Champagne directed the CEOs of Rogers and other telecom companies to develop a backup plan to prevent a similar scenario, giving them 60 days to do so.

He says the companies have committed to assist one another to ensure 911 connections aren’t affected in the event of an outage.

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Champagne says the agreement is only a first step in his network resiliency agenda.

He also says he is taking additional steps, including directing the Canadian Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (CSTAC) to come up with further measures within six months to ensure robust and reliable telecom networks across the country.