Latest news with #TelusOutage
CTV News
26-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Report on Manitoba Telus outage reveals how many 911 calls weren't able to connect
A new report into a Telus network outage in March reveals how many people were unable to get through to 911. Nearly 60 people were unable to get through to 911 during a Telus network outage in March. In a new report to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) from Telus on June 16, the company said an outage started just after 10 p.m. on March 22 and lasted until March 24 after 1 p.m. Telus said the outage involved facilities that connect Telus to Bell's 911 network, which directs calls to Brandon's Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). Telus said a technician was sent out shortly after the outage started to investigate what happened. 'The Telus technician who attended to the outage did not follow the accepted protocols between Bell and Telus to alert about an outage affecting 911 circuits and did not follow Telus' standard practices by failing to escalate the issue with the company,' the report reads. Telus said the technician who responded has been disciplined. Telus' 911 team learned about the outage on March 24 around noon and worked with Bell to fix the issue, the report said. During that nearly 40-hour period, Telus said 59 people tried to call 911 around 177 times but were unable to get through. Dean Switzer's family and friends tried to call 911 around 18 times on March 23 when he suffered a heart attack. A family friend who is an RCMP officer was eventually able to get an ambulance to the house, but the 55-year-old died later that night. Telus said equipment failure was the reason for the outage, but the company doesn't know why the equipment failed. 'The failure on the Bell facilities lasted approximately four minutes. However, this failure has the effect of causing failure of the eight Bell network circuits leased by Telus, which comprise both primary and redundant connections and whose function is to deliver 911 traffic from Telus' wireless network to Bell's 911 network destined for the Brandon PSAP.' Following the outage, Telus said it has reviewed what happened and has now put in an alternate route to ensure 911 calls can still connect in the case of another network failure. If this option also fails, Telus said calls will be rerouted to its operator service team. 'This new call routing will provide an added layer of reliability and resiliency to the enhanced 911 call environment. Telus confirms that with these backup processes in place, 911 calls will continue to complete even with an equipment outage of this kind.'
CTV News
28-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Ethics complaint lodged against Manitoba politician over stock sold in wake of CTV article
An ethics complaint has been made against Mike Moroz, Minister of Innovation and New Technology, regarding Telus shares he sold earlier this month. Moroz said that the accusations are baseless. (Glenn Pismenny/CTV News Winnipeg) An ethics complaint has been made against Mike Moroz, Minister of Innovation and New Technology, related to stock he sold in the wake of a CTV News report about a man who died during a Telus outage. Konrad Narth, MLA for La Vérendrye, alleged on Tuesday that Moroz used 'insider information available to him as a minister of the crown to sell personal shares in a corporation before a report that reflects negatively on that corporation was made public.' From March 22 to 24, a Telus outage prevented calls to 911 from going through. On March 23, Dean Switzer, 55, suffered a heart attack in his home outside Fisher Branch, Man.; however, his family and friends were unable to connect to 911 due to the outage. He died later that night. Two months later, on May 16, Telus filed a three-page final report following an investigation on the outage. Moroz stated during question period on Tuesday that he sold his shares in Telus on May 8, but added that the information was already public knowledge. 'On April 8, CTV published their story. This is important, because the outage and Telus' responsibility was public information,' he said. 'The next day, my office wrote a letter to Telus expressing outrage over the situation at the way it was handled and urging them to work with the CRTC, which regulates them, and all other levels of government, to provide the answers and assurance that this would not happen again.' The minister explained he sold his shares in Telus as he wanted to go 'above and beyond the recommendations,' adding that he lost money on the transaction. 'The accusations are baseless,' Moroz said during question period. 'I acted based on publicly available information and media reporting. If the opposition had done their research properly, they also would've made this determination.' During Tuesday's question period, Opposition Leader Obby Khan said there seems to be a 'direct conflict of interest and violation,' adding that Moroz was privy to insider information regarding a 'damaging' Telus report. 'The questions Manitobans have is something looks fishy here, something looks wrong,' Khan said. 'We ask questions, Manitobans deserve answers.'
