In a media release today (Sept. 8), the Town of Saugeen Shores stated that, due to several recent Bell network outages, the Town has written to Bell Canada to express its displeasure and to ask for compensation for the municipality, its residents, and its businesses.
The letter was addressed to BCE President and CEO Mirko Bibic, as well as the CRTC, several Crown ministers and Huron-Bruce MP Ben Lobb.
In the letter, Mayor Luke Charbonneau explains how recent network outages – cellular, landline and internet – have disrupted the municipal water system and local businesses, as well as the ability for residents to contact emergency services.
Expressing “deep dissatisfaction and disappointment with the repeated failures”, Mayor Charbonneau also told Bibic about the lack of communication around the outages or plans to fix the failures, as well as ways to prevent this from happening again.
“I don’t need to tell you that connectivity is essential to maintaining a fully functioning community,” said Charbonneau, emphasizing the Town’s rural location. “I fail to understand how a company with such a large share of this nation’s telecommunications infrastructure cannot make its system more resilient.”
The Town wants to hear from Bibic on how Bell Canada plans to compensate the Town’s affected residents and businesses – as well as the municipality itself – for lost revenue and service.
