Rogers outage and Big Telecom's control in Canada
A tech glitch at Rogers took millions of people offline and highlighted the risks of Canada’s dependence on a few powerful telecommunications providers.
A massive network outage at Rogers Communications shut down mobile and internet services across much of Canada.
Millions of people found themselves offline, but the widespread impact of the outage also meant business owners couldn't process debit card payments and many 911 services couldn't receive incoming calls.
The mass disruption has put Canada's telecommunications sector under the microscope. Three companies dominate the market and underpin some of the most basic services that are relied upon across the country.
Today, Ben Klass, a member of the Canadian Media Concentration Research Project, explains the stranglehold that Rogers, Bell and Telus have on Canadian telecommunications and what, if anything, can be done about it.