When a modern society comes to a halt, it isn’t because the power went out or the water stopped running it’s because the internet died. That truth hit home during the massive Rogers outage in 2022, when Canadians couldn’t call 911, pay for groceries, or even get basic updates. And it happened again this past May, when Bell customers found themselves without service for hours.
The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) now says it’s “taking action” by forcing providers to report all major outages, while also launching consultations on how to make networks more resilient and how to strengthen consumer protections. On paper, it sounds like a step in the right direction. But it also raises a question: why did it take repeated nationwide failures before the regulator decided enough was enough?
Telecom companies in Canada enjoy enormous market power, and their customers pay some of the highest rates in the world. For that price, people expect reliability. Instead, we’ve seen system-wide crashes that knock out emergency services the very definition of unacceptable. A public reporting framework is good, but accountability must go beyond paperwork. Companies should face real consequences when their networks fail on such a scale.
The CRTC’s push for public consultations is welcome, particularly the focus on both infrastructure resiliency and consumer rights. But Canadians should remain skeptical until they see results. After all, consultations don’t guarantee action; they often buy time. What people want is transparency when outages happen, clear communication during the disruption, and most importantly assurance that networks are being reinforced to prevent repeat disasters.
In 2025, internet and phone connections aren’t luxuries they’re lifelines. Losing them, even for a few hours, can put lives at risk. The CRTC is right to act, but if it wants to win back public trust, it needs to show that this is more than just bureaucratic box-ticking. It needs to make sure the telecom giants finally put reliability ahead of profits.
