The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is awaiting a “detailed explanation” from Bell Aliant about a service outage last Friday that affected customers in all four Atlantic provinces.
Among the details requested by the independent regulatory authority is “the impact on [the] ability of citizens to reach emergency services,” Céline Legault, a team leader for sector services, said in a statement.
“The CRTC will assess this information when it is received to determine if next steps are required.”
According to Bell, two major fibre links were cut by third-party construction work, disrupting cellphone, landline, internet and TV services for customers of Bell and Telus, and their respective sister companies, Virgin and Koodo.
In the thick of the blackout, as emergency service providers in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador instructed the public on how to reach them, there was confusion about whether people could reach 911 using their cellphones or landlines.
Bobbi-Jean MacKinnon, Nathalie Sturgeon – CBC News – Aug 10, 2017.