Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink is vehemently disputing allegations of negligence during its July service outage and calls for the dismissal of the claims made by third-party internet access customers City Wide Communications Inc., Frontier Networks Inc., and Purple Cow Internet Inc. 

Eastlink, acknowledging the frustration experienced by end-users during service outages, denies the allegations presented in the competitors’ application submitted in November. In the application, they alleged anti-competitive provisions in Eastlink’s TPIA Agreement by restricting TPIA customers from using its trademarks or mentioning the company without express written consent, which they claim violates the Charter of Rights and Freedom. 

“The inability of the competitors to name Eastlink specifically in no way inhibited their ability to explain to end-users that the issue was due to their last-mile provider,” Eastlink said, noting that in response to media coverage, Purple Cow explained to the online publication All Nova Scotia that the outage resulted from a software program issue with their last-mile provider. 

“It is unclear to Eastlink how naming the last-mile provider in that communication would alter the impact on the reputation of the competitors. The reality is that it is clear that the competitors would like to use the outage as an opportunity to attack Eastlink’s reputation.” 

Eastlink also refutes the competitors’ claims of significant economic and reputational harm, presenting data indicating continued customer growth and record net sales for TPIA customers between July and September 2023. The company contends that competitors’ statements in the media, expressing a lack of intent to seek compensation, undermine their claims of economic harm.

Eastlink also argued that the “simple fact that an accidental outage happened to only impact TPIA customers” and not its retail customers, does not reasonably amount to an undue preference. 

“Eastlink made no public statement identifying that the outage only impacted TPIA end-users. If end-users were told that the outage only impacted TPIA end-users, then this would not be due to any information provided to the media or end-users by Eastlink.” 

The Competitive Network Operators of Canada and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre also submitted interventions, siding with the three competitors and arguing that Eastlink failed to meet the CRTC’s outage reporting policies. PIAC said imposing administrative monetary penalties (AMPs), which the competitors have also called for, may be warranted in this situation. 

“The suggestion that administrative monetary penalties are appropriate in this case is completely irrational. The commission’s use of AMPs is intended as a tool to obtain compliance and deter future non-compliance from regulated entities. There is no evidence of regulatory non-compliance in this case,” Eastlink said.

In February, the CRTC launched a consultation to develop a regulatory framework to improve network reliability and resiliency, along with interim outage reporting directives to Canadian service providers.

Eastlink said that it determined that the outage was not reportable because it did not fit the criteria of a “major service outage,” which set a threshold of 100,000 impacted subscribers.

“Eastlink has consistently acted in good faith and in compliance with our obligations, and the Competitors’ arguments otherwise must be dismissed,” the company stated.

Eastlink also refutes the competitors’ claim that the July 3rd outage resulted from untested changes to the billing system during a holiday. The company asserts that the outage was caused by the unexpected failure of a thoroughly tested billing script that had been implemented since February 2023. According to Eastlink, the script was meticulously tested in the test production environment before being deployed, and it had been functioning without any issues for several months leading up to the incident. The failure was unprecedented and not anticipated based on the script’s performance in the preceding months.

Eastlink outlined specific steps taken to address the outage’s root cause, to prevent similar incidents in the future. The company described a comprehensive review and hardening of the billing system script post-outage. It said it implemented monthly manual checks before the billing cycle to identify and resolve potential issues proactively. Furthermore, according to Eastlink, the billing system vendor delivered an enhancement that would render the script unnecessary, and it is in the process of testing this enhancement before its implementation. 

Eastlink then emphasized to the CRTC that it constantly communicated with competitors through various channels during the outage, including phone calls, text messages, and emails at different organizational levels. The company asserts that its responsiveness remained consistent despite the outage occurring during the Canada Day long weekend and detailed its communication with each company, pointing to specific instances where competitors acknowledged Eastlink’s swift response and thanked its staff for their hard work after the outage.

“It is clear that Eastlink’s response fell well above the standard of care expected of a reasonable service provider,” Easltink wrote.

Eastlink said its records indicate that the first modem disconnection occurred around 11:05 a.m. on July 3rd, refuting the competitors’ claims of 8:00 a.m. Disconnections continued until 1:45 p.m., according to Eastlink. As service interruption tickets were received and escalated to Eastlink’s TPIA Services team in the early afternoon, the team contacted the billing systems team at 2:02 p.m. for a potential investigation. The director of billing systems responded at 2:05 p.m., initiating investigations. Account restorations commenced at 2:45 p.m., and the process continued incrementally. 

“The competitors’ statement that ‘most affected end-users were without their telecommunications services for approximately 24 hours’ is false,” Eastlink argued.

– Reporting by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca.