Rogers outage shows need for competition

TORONTO — A widespread Rogers Communications Inc. outage that caused trouble for 911 services, retailers and transit operators Friday had many warning the incident is a sign that monopolistic telecommunications companies need more competition.

“The outage is illuminating the general lack of competition in telecommunications in Canada,” said Vass Bednar, executive director of McMaster University’s master of public policy program.

The country’s telecom sector is dominated by three large carriers — Rogers, BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. — and their hold on the industry has long been a concern of academics, who have called for regulators to increase competition for mobile and internet services in Canada.

The Competition Bureau is currently fighting Rogers’ plans to purchase Shaw Communications Inc. for $26 billion despite the planned sale of its Freedom Mobile business to Quebecor Inc. because the regulator feels the deal would only bolster Rogers’ monopoly and not create a viable fourth carrier.

When the outage began Friday, Rogers, Shaw and the Competition Bureau had just wrapped a two-day mediation period that ended with no resolution.

The company offered no explanation for the outage or its expected duration, number of customers affected and location, but promised technical teams are “working hard to restore services as quickly as possible.”

When everything from 911 services to GO Transit is impacted by a Rogers outage, the reach of telecommunications companies is very obvious, Bednar said.

“But unless we’re going to see people switching their providers today or new publicly run options suddenly springing up, there’s not much more that we can do right now other than perhaps factor in people’s anger and frustration, as the pending Rogers-Shaw deal is considered.”

She added that people should be compensated for the disruption.

“It’s a huge expense to Rogers, but even a modest decrease on people’s bills would acknowledge some kind of deficit.”

Beanfield, an independent fibre network operator, called the outage “every telecom provider’s nightmare,” but said it was also an example of why it has long been concerned with the lack of rivals for Rogers, Telus and BCE.

“A lack of competition and choice can lead to a building with the population of a small town going completely dark — cut off from all communications,” the company said on Twitter.

“If you can’t even get help from a neighbour, where do you go? How do you call 911?”