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Millions of Canadians experienced unexplained cell and internet outages, which also caused problems for travelers and The Weeknd

Jul 9, 2022, 10:19 IST
Business Insider
In this photo illustration, Rogers Communications logo of a Canadian media and telecommunications company is seen displaying, on a smartphone and a pc screen.Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
  • Millions of people in Canada had no access to cell and internet services for more than 12 hours.
  • Kye Prigg, a senior vice president at Rogers, said the company hadn't identified the cause.
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Rogers said its wireless services are starting to recover after millions of Canadians experienced cell and internet outages across the country on Friday.

The telecommunications company has approximately nine million wireless customers who struggled to access bank services and government sites like Service Canada that provide employment insurance and social insurance cards.

Travelers abroad were also at a loss when trying to upload information to AriveCAN, an app the government mandated for anyone entering the country during the pandemic.

In a statement provided to Insider, the company said as it's services and traffic volumes return to normal, it will continue to keep its customers updated, adding "as previously announced, we will be proactively crediting all customers and will share more information on that process soon."

Speaking with The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Kye Prigg, a senior vice president at Rogers said the company hadn't identified the cause of the outage. Parliamentary Secretary Greg Fergus told the CBC the outage isn't due to a cyber attack.

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The Weeknd was supposed to perform at The Rogers Centre on Friday night, but the concert had to be postponed due to the service outages. According to reporting by Variety, the Rogers Centre is cashless, and therefore transactions are dependent on wifi.

Rogers is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the country. Along with Bell and Telus, the three companies control 90% of the market share in Canada, compared to the US where there are dozens of carriers.

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