As MPs probe Rogers outage, experts call for rejection of Shaw merger

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OTTAWA — Telecommunications consultants known as for scuttling the deliberate Rogers Communications takeover of rival Shaw, slamming the response of Ottawa and the federal telecom regulator to the intense Rogers outage earlier this month.

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The Home of Commons business committee heard testimony Monday on the outage from varied consultants, in addition to Business Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, Rogers executives and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Fee officers.

The consultants offered quite a few coverage suggestions, together with methods to make sure competitors within the business, and known as for the Rogers-Shaw transaction to be blocked.

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Rogers is pursuing a $26-billion merger with Shaw, however the deal nonetheless requires approval of the Competitors Bureau and Champagne’s workplace.

The July 8 outage crippled the Rogers community and affected thousands and thousands of consumers throughout Canada, together with folks making an attempt to contact emergency providers.

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All 4 consultants who testified Monday criticized the CRTC’s response to the outage, together with its choice to not pursue a full public investigation.

Ben Klass, a PhD candidate on the Carleton College College of Journalism and Communication, stated the CRTC is liable for the impact of the outage on entry to emergency providers, including that “maybe it needs to be required to rethink its comparatively permissive strategy to regulating essential providers.”

CRTC head Ian Scott was requested throughout his look whether or not the telecom regulator wants any extra powers.

Scott stated he couldn’t consider any provisions which may have prevented the outage. “With respect to community outages and community reliability, I believe it is a state of affairs that may be addressed by the business.”

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Geist criticized Scott’s response.

“It was, I assumed, exceptional and exceptionally discouraging to look at the chair of the CRTC come give a digital shrug when posed with questions in regards to the function that new laws might play,” Geist stated.

John Lawford, government director of the Public Curiosity Advocacy Centre, stated a part of the issue with the CRTC is that it doesn’t impose high quality of service necessities.

Rogers submitted a letter to the CRTC on Friday, explaining how the outage occurred and the diploma to which its community was incapacitated.

Scott stated the fee is within the technique of reviewing the submission and figuring out subsequent steps.

“Rogers stated they may do higher. The CRTC will be certain that they do,” Scott stated in his testimony.

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Scott stated it’s nonetheless to be decided whether or not penalties will likely be imposed, however cautioned that as per present laws, penalties are supposed to encourage compliance moderately than be punitive.

Conservative MP Tracy Grey questioned the CRTC officers on their preparation for an outage’s have an effect on on 911 calls, given the Rogers lapse restricted Canadians’ skill to entry emergency providers.

“It’s very troublesome to arrange for one thing that’s actually unprecedented,” Scott stated.

Rogers Communications CEO Tony Staffieri additionally confronted questions Monday from MPs about whether or not an absence of competitors within the telecom sector might need contributed to the huge outage, which got here as the corporate awaits authorities approvals for its buy of Shaw.

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Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith requested Staffieri whether or not the focus of consumers in a single firm is a problem to community resiliency.

“We work daily in a really aggressive atmosphere and we work exhausting to convey the perfect worth in cash for purchasers,” Staffieri stated.

“You’re saying that with a straight face?” responded Erskine-Smith.

In his opening remarks, Staffieri stated the outage displays a failure on the a part of Rogers. “On that day, we did not ship on our promise to be Canada’s most dependable community.”

The CEO additional outlined a few of the technical causes of the outage and what the corporate is doing to forestall extra failures, together with a plan to separate the wi-fi and web networks.

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MPs additionally directed inquiries to Champagne on authorities motion in response to the outage.

New Democrat MP Brian Masse pressed Champagne about passing laws to make the web a public utility, saying that COVID-19 had proven the web to be a necessary service.

With out extra authorities energy to manage the web, Masse advised the committee listening to, “we’ve got to depend on any minister being buddy-buddy with a bunch of CEOs.”

Champagne defended his assembly with the telecom CEOs, and whereas he didn’t say whether or not he would assist laws to make the web a public utility, he stated he was open to working throughout occasion traces and taking within the committee’s suggestions.

Masse requested Staffieri if he would assist a invoice of rights for shoppers, however the Rogers government didn’t reply instantly.

“We’re very a lot centered on what we have to do to make sure the resiliency and redundancy of our networks,” Staffieri stated.

Champagne stated on the day of the outage he contacted Staffieri to inquire in regards to the state of affairs however the dialog was not between a CEO and a cupboard minister. Quite, Champagne was talking on behalf of Canadians.