The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that last Friday's Bell Aliant outage in Atlantic Canada
has dialled up concerns about the security of the
region's telecommunications system. A Canadian Press dispatch to The Globe reports that
consultant Eamon Hoey says
the breakdown of Bell's system
because of cuts in crucial fibre-optic
links raises questions about
whether there is adequate backup.
He says: "We need better networks. We
need more robust networks. This
case in the Atlantic provinces suggests
we don't have it."
The breakdown affected emergency
services in some parts of
the region, caused widespread
cellular telephone outages on
Telus, Bell, Virgin and Koodo, and
also interrupted Internet and
some landline services for about
four hours, beginning late Friday
morning. The Rogers Communications and Eastlink
networks continued to operate.
Emergency-measures agencies
in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
said on Tuesday they will be
in talks with Bell following the
outage.
Mr. Hoey says the region's network
is heavily reliant on Bell's fibre-optic system and says the
Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission should consider the
need for more backup methods.
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