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A network outage at one of Canada’s telecommunications giants disrupted mobile and Internet service across the country for hours Friday, affecting homes, businesses, ATMs and 911 emergency lines.
Canadians flocked to cafes for WiFi. Banks are reporting problems with payment systems and retailers are putting up “cash only” signs.
Netblocks, a monitoring group, said the Rogers Communications outage began Friday morning and knocked out a quarter of the country’s network connectivity. He said early Saturday that Internet service was “gradually being restored.”
Canada Revenue Agency lost phone service. The country’s largest airline, Air Canada, reported technical problems at call centers. Even Canada’s telecommunications regulator said its phone lines were affected.
In the city of Winnipeg, police asked Rogers users who need to call 911 to try to find landlines or phones on another network in case of an emergency.
Rogers Communications said late Friday that it had “made significant progress” toward restoring service, but could not say when the networks would be fully restored.
“Many of our wireless customers are beginning to see service return,” company president Tony Staffieri said in the statement. “I want to sincerely apologize for this service disruption and the impact it is having on people from coast to coast to coast.”
It was the provider’s second outage in just over a year. Critics pointed to Friday’s outages as evidence that there needs to be more competition in Canada’s telecommunications industry. Rogers, which has more than 11 million wireless subscribers, is one of three companies that dominate the market in Canada.
Canada’s Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne called the situation “unacceptable” and said overnight he had conveyed to Rogers’ chief executive the “frustration of millions of Canadians.”
With government services failing, including the passport service, Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner said the latest disruption showed the potential “national vulnerability” due to limited competition.
Gordon Barton, who was attending a music festival over the weekend, told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that he had deposited cash to spend money on his card but could no longer use it.
“But that might not be a bad thing,” he joked. “I mean, I don’t think a money-only system is the answer,” he added, “but it’s scary how quickly things can collapse.”
Vancouver International Airport said passengers could not pay for food or use ATMs in its terminals. A domestic airline in the north said it could not contact passengers with up-to-date flight information.
The outage also prompted a Toronto health care network to ask doctors who were on call Friday to “physically come to the hospital for the shift.”
Meanwhile, at a venue in the city, frustrated crowds lingered outside after a Weeknd concert was postponed at the last minute due to disruption.
“I am devastated and heartbroken,” the Canadian singer tweeted Friday night. “We’ve been on the spot all day, but it’s not in our hands because of Rogers’ interruption.”
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