Champagne announces network sharing agreement following Rogers outage

Wednesday Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne announced a network sharing agreement for telecom service providers (TSPs) in response to the July outage experienced by Rogers Communications Inc. “The Rogers outage of July 8 was unacceptable, and we must do everything possible to ensure something similar does not happen again in the future, as I said at the time,” the minister said in a news release. Champagne advocated for a network sharing agreement when the outage occurred. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed among BCE Inc., Bragg Communications Inc., parent company of EastLink, Cogeco Inc., Rogers, Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holdings Corp., Shaw Communications Inc., its subsidiary Freedom Mobile, TBayTel Inc., Telesat Canada, Telus Communications Inc., Québecortele Inc.’s Videotron, Xplornet Communications Inc., and Zayo Canada Inc. Under the MOU, the parties agree to provide reasonable roaming under disaster arrangements when technically feasible; establish mutual aid arrangements during emergencies and take reasonable steps to improve public awareness of service and restoration status. The template for the agreement is a notice of proposed rulemaking from the Federal Communications Commission in Washington issued two days prior to the Rogers outage. The effective date of the pact is early September. (Different parties signed the MOU on different days.) It will run for five years and may be extended in one-year increments. Other TSPs may opt into the agreement if they wish. If a TSP receives confidential information about a rival while helping during an outage, the receiving party is to treat it with the same care it would of its own data. It may not use the information to its own advantage. It should not hold onto the data longer than necessary. In the event of a dispute between parties, they are expected to nominate members of the executive committee to resolve the fight. If that doesn’t work, the matter will go to arbitration. After an outage, all parties in the network sharing arrangement must file an Emergency Roaming Report with the Department of Innovation, Service and Economic Development (ISED) and the CRTC. A joint report may be submitted if both the company receiving the emergency roaming and the firm providing it are in agreement on the details. Emergency roaming could involve the sharing of equipment, personnel and physical property. It could also include access to spectrum and the 911 network if necessary. Companies providing roaming services are entitled to be reimbursed for any costs incurred during the outage. Champagne also directed the Canadian Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (CSTAC) to develop additional measures within the next six months to ensure a healthy telecom network. The CRTC is conducting its own review into the Rogers outage. The Toronto telecom has already provided detailed answers to the commission over what went wrong in July. Many feel the company has not gone far enough to reassure Canadians. ISED and Emergency Preparedness Canada are working together to establish a public safety broadband network. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.

Champagne announces network sharing agreement following Rogers outage

News | September 7, 2022

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Champagne announces network sharing agreement following Rogers outage

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