OTTAWA – While telecommunications service providers continue to deal with the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona, the CRTC is seeking more information on how they prepared for and responded to the storm.
The Commission sent a request for information last week to Bell, Eastlink, Rogers and Telus. By Oct. 7, the companies are expected to submit information including “a high-level estimate of the number of customers affected by service outages of 24 hours or more caused by the hurricane, for each of the phone, mobile wireless, and Internet access services,” as well as “The status to date of any outages and all relevant timelines, including details of actions taken so far.”
The Commission is also asking for information about the impact on 9-1-1 services and wireless public alerting, and about “measures taken to request and/or provide mutual aid from and to other carriers and the outcomes of such measures including emergency roaming.”
This information is to be placed on the public record (although the companies can still designate information as confidential).
Industry minister François-Philippe Champagne meanwhile indicated on Twitter he has spoken to several service providers multiple times following the storm and has told them to review potential gaps in their emergency response plans and to work with others, such as utility companies, to enhance coordination.
In a Sept. 28 Twitter post, Champagne said he and finance minister Chrystia Freeland met with senior executives from Bell, Rogers, Telus, Eastlink and Xplore.
A image of a writeup on the meeting, posted on Champagne’s Twitter account, indicated that at the time, the ministers were given an update on efforts to restore service in the areas impacted by the hurricane.
“Although many Canadians experienced services issues, we noted that there was no significant damage to telecom infrastructure and that complete restoration of services is well underway,” the post says. “We commend the companies for assisting each other during this emergency, as per the recent agreement reached between Canada’s major telecommunications service providers.”
The post goes on to note that Champagne and Freeland reminded the telecoms “of their commitment to transparency and timely communications to keep Canadians and relevant authorities informed about response and restoration efforts during major network outages.”
