Millions hit by major network outage in Canada; banking, transport affected

Canada residents faced problems with mobile services and internet connectivity on Friday due a huge network outage of a telecom giant, according to local media.

The major outage of Rogers affected banking services, passport officers and the country’s ArriveCAN app which is used for border control, drawing outrage from customers and adding to criticism over its industry dominance. Some callers could not even reach emergency services via 911 calls, Reuters reported citing police across Canada.

The company confirmed that the outages were affecting its wirelines and wireless networks. The reason behind the issue, however, is still unknown.

“We acknowledge the impact our outage is having on your life. We have every technical resource and partner fully deployed to solve the problem. As soon as we know the specific time the Networks will be fully operational, we will share that with you. Right now, we are focused on the solution,” the telecom giant said in a statement published on Twitter.

“Some of our customers have raised the question of credits and of course we will be proactively crediting all customers and will share more information soon,” the statement added.

The company said late Friday night that the network was beginning to recover after a 19-hour service outage.

In a separate statement on its website, company’s president and CEO Tony Staffieri apologized for the outage, saying: “Today we let you down. We can and will do better.”

Staffieri said that company is “working to fully understand the root cause of this outage” and assured to “make this right” for its customers by applying a “credit to all our customers impacted by the outage.”

A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Friday evening that the outage was not the result of a cyber attack, reported Reuters.