A few days after the network outage at Rogers that affected more than 10 million Canadians and hundreds of thousands of businesses, experts see positive elements and want to put the event into perspective.
Posted at 6:00 a.m.
While Rogers says the outage was caused by a maintenance update, National Bank Financial analyst Adam Shine says he prefers human or software error to a problem caused by a underinvestment in the network, equipment failure or more serious recurring problems.
If there’s a silver lining, he says in a report on Tuesday, it’s that the outage came before a much more complex use of the 5G network to support remote surgeries and autonomous driving, for example. vehicles on our roads.
We all agree on the inconveniences, but no one died even though there are a thousand horror stories that stem from this breakdown.
Pierre C. Bélanger, professor at the University of Ottawa
This specialist in telecommunications regulation wishes to put the incident which began on Friday and which continued over the weekend into perspective.
“This is the great risk of these mega-infrastructures carrying an incalculable volume of data. It is these same infrastructures that have allowed the earth to continue to turn for two years. Let’s keep that in mind,” explains Mr. Bélanger.
The event reminds him of the ice storm. “It takes concussions like this to change things,” he said.
“Engineers from Canadian telecommunications companies will be backed up when they return from vacation in mid-October to ensure that a safety net is in place. We learn from the misadventure of a great player, but the competition can consider themselves lucky not to have experienced such a situation because updates are made every week. »
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne on Monday asked the leaders of the country’s telecommunications companies to reach a formal agreement within 60 days surrounding emergency roaming and mutual assistance.
“This is the good news of this disaster. Expect collaboration in the future. It’s beneficial and essential in this sector given the importance it occupies in our lives,” comments Pierre C. Bélanger.
The CRTC will investigate
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) said Tuesday it is ordering Rogers to provide a full explanation by July 22. The organization asks Rogers to clarify why and how the outage occurred, as well as the measures taken to prevent future outages.
As the CRTC launches its investigation and Rogers announced on Tuesday that a credit equivalent to five days of service will be granted to its customers, Pierre C. Bélanger believes that equipment and technology suppliers could be part of the explanation .
“Do you do business with Cisco, a German supplier or from another country? Sometimes a concoction from a Japanese vendor with a German and an Australian can cause a glitch. »
It is even surprising, according to Pierre C. Bélanger, that technical glitches do not occur more often given the volume, speed and quality of the systems (image, sound, synchronization).
For this specialist, if the reaction of the public and the authorities is so strong, it is in particular because in telecommunications, we have convinced ourselves that a breakdown is inadmissible, especially because for 25 years we have been telling Canadians that they are among the highest paying in the world.
There is not much room for error because in France, for example, telecommunications companies charge half the rates here. And let’s not forget that telecoms are the companies we love to hate. Justin Trudeau came to power with the intention of lowering tariffs.
Pierre C. Belanger
Telecommunications companies point to the high cost of building and managing their infrastructure.
“Canada is not Liechtenstein. Companies will say they have to set up an antenna in Nunavut, three others on an island where there are 22,000 people, and so on. and that when they have to send people to repair a line, they have to drive four hours to get there and take two days to do the job. It is there, the explanation for the tariffs. It is geographical. »
Pierre C. Bélanger points out that breakdowns also occur in other industries, particularly in the electrical networks and metro transportation.
“It’s extraordinary that there are so few breakdowns in telecoms! Maybe there’s an engineer who dropped one. It remains a freak accident. It may also be a time of year when the chief engineer is on vacation. History will tell us. It didn’t happen on October 21. Today we are between two seasons and there are many people traveling with their children. Is it a coincidence that it happened at this time? You can be sure that Rogers could tell us that after investigation, management discovered that their quarterback was absent that week. »