Rogers outage may be discussed by House tech committee

The House of Commons industry and technology committee is set to meet today to discuss launching an investigation into the Rogers Communications Inc. outage.

Last Friday's outage lasted more than 15 hours, affecting mobile and internet users, knocking out ATMs, shutting down the Interac payments system and preventing calls to 911 services in some Canadian cities.

After calling the outage "unacceptable," Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne directed the country’s major telecom companies to reach agreements on emergency roaming, assisting each other during outages and a communication protocol to better inform Canadians during emergencies.

The telecommunications regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, is also investigating the Rogers outage.

Conservative MP and former industry critic Michelle Rempel Garner wrote to the committee last week requesting it hold an emergency meeting.

The NDP has also called for bringing Rogers, Interac and Champagne to committee.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2022.

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