Jan 20 (Reuters) – T-Mobile (TMUS.O), the No.3 U.S. wireless carrier by subscribers, said on Thursday it was investigating a data breach involving 37 million postpaid and prepaid accounts and that it could incur significant costs related to the incident.
The company, which has more than 110 million subscribers, said it identified malicious activity on Jan. 5 and contained it within a day, adding that no sensitive data such as financial information was compromised.
However, some basic customer data — such as name, billing address, email and phone number — was obtained, and it had begun notifying impacted customers, said T-Mobile.
“Our investigation is still ongoing, but the malicious activity appears to be fully contained at this time, and there is currently no evidence that the bad actor was able to breach or compromise our systems or our network,” the company said.
The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has opened an investigation into the data breach, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing an FCC spokesperson.
FCC and T-Mobile did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment on the reported investigation.
“While these cybersecurity breaches may not be systemic in nature, their frequency of occurrence at T-Mobile is an alarming outlier relative to telecom peers,” said Neil Mack, senior analyst for Moody’s Investors Service.
“It could negatively impact customer behavior, cause churn to spike and potentially attract the scrutiny of the FCC and other regulators.”
Last year, T-Mobile agreed to pay $350 million and spend an additional $150 million to upgrade data security to settle litigation over a cyberattack in 2021 that compromised information belonging to an estimated 76.6 million people.
The Bellevue, Washington-based company’s shares fell 2% in after-hours trade.
Reporting by Eva Mathews and Lavanya Ahire in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila, Maju Samuel, Rashmi Aich and Savio D’Souza
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TOKYO, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa revealed on Friday that K-pop star TOP and DJ Steve Aoki will be among the eight crew members he plans to take on a trip around the moon as soon as next year, hitching a ride on one of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets.
Maezawa bought every seat on the maiden lunar voyage, which has been in the works since 2018 and would follow his trip on a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) for a 12-day stint last year.
The picks were announced by Maezawa on Twitter and at a website for what he dubbed the #dearMoon Project.
The fashion tycoon and his crew would become the first passengers on the SpaceX flyby of the moon as commercial firms, including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, usher in a new age of space travel for wealthy clients.
The mission aboard SpaceX’s Starship vehicle is scheduled to take eight days from launch to return to earth, including three days circling the moon, coming within 200 kilometres from the lunar surface. Though the flight was scheduled for 2023, it is facing delays due to ongoing tests of the spacecraft and its rockets.
Like fellow billionaire Musk, Maezawa has a flare for promotion and an infatuation with Twitter — he has boasted to holding the Guinness world record for the most retweeted post, when he offered a cash prize of 1 million yen ($7300) to 100 winners for retweeting it.
[1/4] Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa reacts as he speaks with his family after donning space suits shortly before the launch to the International Space Station (ISS) at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, December 8, 2021. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov
Maezawa used the micro-blogging site to recruit eight crew members from around the world to join him on the moon trip, saying 1 million people had applied.
TOP, the stage name of Choi Seung Hyun who broke out with the K-pop group Big Bang, is among the higher profile members selected, along with Aoki, a Japanese-American musician and DJ whose father founded the Benihana restaurant chain.
“I feel great pride and responsibility in becoming the first Korean civilian going to the moon,” TOP said in a video posted after the announcement.
Indian actor Dev Joshi was also among the picks for the group, comprised largely of artists and photographers. U.S. Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu were named as backup crew members.
Maezawa, 47, flagged an update to the lunar expedition on Monday, tweeting he’d held an online meeting with Musk and was readying a “big announcement about space.”
Maezawa made his fortune founding the online fashion retailer Zozo Inc (3092.T), in which Softbank Group Corp’s (9984.T) internet business is now the top shareholder.
($1 = 136.7600 yen)
Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Leslie Adler and Sandra Maler
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Nov 18 (Reuters) – Elon Musk started a Twitter poll late on Friday asking followers to vote on whether to reinstate former U.S. President Donald Trump’s account on the platform, with early results showing roughly 60% voting yes.
“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted, a Latin phrase that roughly means meaning “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” The poll was open for 24 hours.
Musk, Twitter’s new owner, said in May he would reverse Twitter’s ban on Trump, whose account was suspended after last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Musk said earlier in the day that a decision to bring back Trump’s account was yet to be made, and that Twitter had reinstated some controversial accounts that had been banned or suspended, including satirical website Babylon Bee and comedian Kathy Griffin.
Musk’s decision to ask Twitter users for guidance on who should be on the platform is part of a huge restructuring of the company, including massive layoffs.
In a memo on Friday to remaining employees that was seen by Reuters, Musk asked those who write software code to report to the 10th floor of the Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco by early afternoon.
The billionaire said in a follow-up email: “If possible, I would appreciate it if you could fly to SF to be present in person,” adding he would be at the office until midnight and would return Saturday morning.
He asked employees to email him a summary of what their software code has “achieved” in the past six months, “along with up to 10 screenshots of the most salient lines of code.”
“There will be short, technical interviews that allow me to better understand the Twitter tech stack,” Musk wrote in one of the emails, and asked engineers to report at 2 p.m. on Friday.
The emails came a day after hundreds of Twitter employees were estimated to have decided to leave the beleaguered social media company following a Thursday deadline from Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity.”
The exodus adds to the change and chaos that have marked Musk’s first three weeks as Twitter’s owner. He has fired top management including former CEO Parag Agarwal and senior officials in charge of security and privacy, drawing scrutiny from a regulator.
A White House official also weighed in, saying Twitter should tell Americans how the company was protecting their data.
Tech website Platformer reported on Friday that Robin Wheeler, the company’s top ad sales executive, had been fired.
Wheeler, who told employees in a memo last week that she was staying, tweeted on Friday: “To the team and my clients…you were always my first and only priority”, with a salute emoji that has been adopted as a send off for departing employees.
Twitter told employees on Thursday that it would close its offices and cut badge access until Monday, according to two sources. Reuters could not immediately confirm whether the headquarters reopened.
On Friday afternoon, the company had started cutting off access to company systems for some of the employees who had declined to accept Musk’s offer, three people told Reuters.
Another source said the company was planning to shut down one of Twitter’s three main U.S. data centers, at the SMF1 facility near Sacramento, to save costs.
In his first email to Twitter employees this month, Musk warned that Twitter may not be able to “survive the upcoming economic downturn.” He also said, “We are also changing Twitter policy such that remote work is no longer allowed, unless you have a specific exception.”
Amid the changes, Moody’s withdrew its B1 credit rating for Twitter, saying it had insufficient information to maintain the rating.
Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin and Sheila Dang; Additional reporting by Katie Paul; Writing by Sheila Dang and Katie Paul; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, David Gregorio, Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Daniel Wallis, Sayantani Ghosh and Gerry Doyle
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Tesla expects to miss vehicle delivery target this year
AT&T raises annual profit forecast
Dow down 0.3%, S&P 500 down 0.80%, Nasdaq down 0.61%
NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) – U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday as data on the labor market and comments from a U.S. Federal Reserve official reinforced expectations the central bank will be aggressive in hiking interest rates outweighed a flurry of solid corporate earnings.
Stocks initially rose early in the session, boosted by gains in names such as IBM (IBM.N), up 4.73% after the IT services company beat quarterly earnings estimates on Wednesday and said it expects to exceed full-year revenue growth targets. AT&T Inc (T.N) surged 7.72% upon raising its annual profit forecast.
But stocks were unable to hold their gains as strong weekly jobless claims and comments from Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker bolstered concerns about the Fed hiking rates and potentially tilting the economy into a recession.
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Harker said the Fed is not done raising its short-term rate target as high inflation persists, helping to push the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note to its highest level since June 2008 at 4.239%.
“It’s interest rates that are driving equity volatility, that is the way we have been looking at things all year, that is kind of the precursor of seeing things calm down in the equity space and feeling better about adding risk there is seeing volatility decline in interest rates,” said Zachary Hill, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I’m not sure we are going to be able to see that pause that a few Fed members have been pointing to and certainly a few market participants have been kind of latching on to.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) fell 90.22 points, or 0.3%, to 30,333.59, the S&P 500 (.SPX) lost 29.38 points, or 0.80%, to 3,665.78 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC) dropped 65.66 points, or 0.61%, to 10,614.84.
The New York Stock Exchange building is seen from Broad Street in Lower Manhattan in New York, January 20, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar
Better-than-expected results thus far has pushed earnings growth expectations for third-quarter for S&P 500 companies to 3.1% from a 2.8% increase earlier in the week, but still well below the 11.1% increase that was forecast at the start of July.
Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) slumped 6.65% as the electric-vehicle maker flagged persistent logistics challenges, with fourth-quarter deliveries growing by less than the aimed 50%.
Stocks have been under pressure this year as concerns about the impact of the Fed’s aggressive path of interest rate hikes on corporate earnings and the overall economy have mounted as the central bank tries to quell stubbornly high inflation.
Other data showed sales of existing homes fell for an eight straight month, while another reading showed factory activity in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s district contracted again in October.
The U.S. central bank is widely expected to announce a fourth straight 75 basis-point hike at its November meeting, with an outside chance of a full percentage point increase.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was 11.37 billion shares, compared with the 11.62 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a 2.12-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.34-to-1 ratio favored decliners.
The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and 28 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 53 new highs and 239 new lows.
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Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Aurora Ellis
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SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif., Sept 17 (Reuters) – Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O) iPhone 14 models contain a Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) chip that can talk to satellites, but have additional custom-designed Apple components used in the phone’s biggest new feature, according to an analysis of the phone by iFixit and an Apple statement.
Apple released its iPhone 14 lineup on Friday. One of the major new features is the ability to connect to satellites to send emergency messages when there is no WiFi or cellular data connection.
Apple said earlier this month that the iPhone 14 models contain new hardware that makes possible the emergency message service, which Apple plans to turn on with a software update coming in November. Apple did not give details about the satellite-specific hardware.
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iFixit, a San Luis Obispo, California-based firm that disassembles iPhones and other consumer electronics to assess how easily they can be repaired, took apart an iPhone 14 Pro Max model on Friday, revealing a Qualcomm X65 modem chip.
The Qualcomm chip provides 5G connectivity for cellular networks but is also capable of using what is called band n53, the frequency band used by satellites from Globalstar (GSAT.A).
Globalstar earlier this month announced a deal in which Apple will take up to 85% of Globalstar’s satellite network capacity to enable Apple’s new emergency messaging feature.
In a statement to Reuters on Saturday, Apple said there is additional proprietary hardware and software in the iPhone 14 for the new messaging feature.
“iPhone 14 includes custom radio frequency components, and new software designed entirely by Apple, that together enable Emergency SOS via satellite on new iPhone 14 models,” Apple said in a statement.
Qualcomm did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Luis Obispo, California; Editing by Leslie Adler
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Aug 25 (Reuters) – U.S wireless carrier T-Mobile US Inc (TMUS.O) will use Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Starlink satellites to provide mobile users with network access in parts of the United States, the companies announced on Thursday, outlining plans to connect users’ mobile phones directly to satellites in orbit.
The new plans, which would exist alongside T-mobile’s existing cellular services, would cut out the need for cell towers and offer service for sending texts and images where cell coverage does not currently exist, key for emergency situations in remote areas, Musk said at a flashy event on Thursday at his company’s south Texas rocket facility.
Starlink’s satellites will use T-Mobile’s mid-band spectrum to create a new network. Most phones used by the company’s customers will be compatible with the new service, which will start with texting services in a beta phase beginning by the end of next year.
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SpaceX has launched nearly 3,000 low-Earth-orbiting Starlink satellites since 2019, handily outpacing rivals OneWeb and Amazon.com Inc’s (AMZN.O) Project Kuiper.
SpaceX’s next-generation Starlink satellites, the first of which are planned to launch on SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket whenever it is fully developed, will have larger antennae that will allow connectivity directly to mobile phones on the T-mobile network, Musk said.
SpaceX Chief Engineer Elon Musk and T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert take part in a joint news conference at the SpaceX Starbase, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 25, 2022. REUTERS/Adrees Latif
Read More
“We are constructing special antenna. … They are actually very big antenna that are extremely advanced,” he said. “The important thing is you will not need to get a new phone. The phone you currently have will work.”
Meanwhile, U.S telecom firms are in a race to build up the mid-band portion of their 5G networks to catch up with T-Mobile, which bagged a chunky 2.5 GHz of mid-band spectrum thanks to a buyout of rival Sprint.
Mid-band or C-Band has proven to be perfect for 5G, as it provides a good balance of capacity and coverage.
The carrier said it aims to pursue voice and data coverage after the texting services beta phase.
Satellite communications firm AST SpaceMobile Inc (ASTS.O) is also building a global cellular broadband network in space that will operate with mobile devices without the need for additional hardware.
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Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington, Akash Sriram and Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien and Leslie Adler
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SHANGHAI/HONG KONG, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Five Chinese state-owned firms including China Life Insurance (601628.SS) and oil giant Sinopec (600028.SS) said Friday they would delist from the New York Stock Exchange, amid heightened diplomatic and economic tensions with the United States.
The companies, which also include Aluminium Corporation of China (Chalco) (601600.SS), PetroChina (601857.SS) and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co (600688.SS), said in separate statements that they would apply for delistings of their American Depository Shares from later this month.
The five, which were added to the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA) list in May after they were identified as not meeting U.S regulators’ auditing standards, will keep their listings in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets.
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There was no mention of the auditing row in separate statements by the Chinese companies outlining their moves, which come amid heightened tensions after last week’s visit to Taiwan by U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Beijing and Washington have been in talks to resolve a long-running dispute that could mean Chinese firms being kicked off U.S. exchanges if they do not comply with U.S. audit rules.
“These companies have strictly complied with the rules and regulatory requirements of the U.S. capital market since their listing in the U.S. and made the delisting choice for their own business considerations,” the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said in a statement.
Some of China’s largest companies including Alibaba Group Holdings , J.D Com Inc and Baidu Inc are among almost 270 on the list and at threat of being delisted.
Alibaba said last week it would convert its Hong Kong secondary listing into a dual primary listing which analysts indicated could ease the way for the Chinese ecommerce giant to switch primary listing venues in the future. read more
In premarket trade Friday, U.S.-listed shares of China Life Insurance and oil giant Sinopec fell 5.7% about 4.3% respectively. Aluminium Corporation of China dropped 1.7%, while PetroChina shed 4.3%. Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co shed 4.1%.
“China is sending a message that its patience is wearing thin in the audit talks,” said Kai Zhan, senior counsel at Chinese law firm Yuanda, who specialises in areas including U.S. capital markets and U.S. sanction compliance.
Washington has long demanded complete access to the books of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, but Beijing bars foreign inspection of audit documents from local accounting firms, citing national security concerns.
The companies said their U.S. traded share volume was small compared with those on their other major listing venues.
PetroChina said it had never raised follow-on capital from its U.S listing and its Hong Kong and Shangai bases “can satisfy the company’s fundraising requirements” as well as providing “better protection of the interests of the investors.”
China Life and Chalco said they would file for delisting on Aug. 22, with it taking effect 10 days later. Sinopec and PetroChina said their applications would be made on Aug. 29.
China Telecom (0728.HK), China Mobile (0941.HK) and China Unicom (0762.HK) were delisted from the United States in 2021 after a Trump-era decision to restrict investment in Chinese technology firms. That ruling has been left unchanged by the Biden administration amid continuing tensions.
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Reporting by Samuel Shen in Shanghai, Scott Murdoch in Hong Kong and Medha Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Hugh Lawson, David Goodman and Alexander Smith
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Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp Chief Executive Masayoshi Son attends a news conference in Tokyo, Japan, November 5, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
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LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters Breakingviews) – Masayoshi Son is thinking the unthinkable at SoftBank Group (9984.T). His $63 billion technology and telecom empire will slash its stake in Alibaba (9988.HK) to 15% from 24%. The long-overdue shrinkage offers a blueprint for what to do next: break up the conglomerate.
This year’s tech selloff has punished the Japanese holding company, pushing it to a $23 billion net loss last quarter read more . Son’s new watchword is discipline: His Vision Funds, effectively giant venture-capital vehicles, invested just $600 million in the three-month stretch ending in June, compared with some $21 billion a year earlier.
The same focus on cash preservation seems to have informed the decision unveiled on Wednesday to cut the Alibaba holding, which has a totemic significance at SoftBank as one of the world’s most lucrative tech investments. Through derivatives deals with banks, Son could have retained the Alibaba stake by settling so-called prepaid forward contracts in cash. Instead, he handed over the shares. SoftBank is dramatically reducing its position to “eliminate concerns about future cash outflows”.
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It’s the sensible move. The Chinese e-commerce titan started by Jack Ma has lost roughly two-thirds of its value over the past two years amid Beijing’s broad tech crackdown, creating a massive distraction for SoftBank investors as Son tries to redirect attention to his stable of Vision Fund unicorns and other startups. The Alibaba holding, as of June 30, was worth $33 billion in net terms and accounted for more than one-fifth of SoftBank’s $160 billion gross asset value. Liquidating it entirely would help narrow SoftBank’s 55% discount to the theoretical sum of its parts.
The same can be said of selling down ownership of SoftBank’s eponymous Japanese mobile operator, which was worth $18 billion in June after deducting the parent company’s margin loan, and a $7 billion T-Mobile US (TMUS.O) holding. Spinning off chip designer Arm, rather than pursuing plans to list a small stake, would likewise simplify the group and lift its valuation. What’s left would be the Vision Funds, making SoftBank a way for public-market investors mainly to gain exposure to Son’s hodgepodge of private tech outfits.
It may not look so appealing under the current circumstances, but at least SoftBank would have a clear purpose. The Alibaba sale could be the first step in breaking some destructive taboos.
Follow @liamwardproud on Twitter
(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.)
CONTEXT NEWS
SoftBank Group on Aug. 10 said it would settle derivatives contracts held against its Alibaba stake by handing a chunk of the shares to banks. The move effectively cuts its stake in the Chinese e-commerce company to 14.6% from 23.7%.
The technology conglomerate controlled by billionaire Masayoshi Son said that settling the contracts early in the form of shares would “eliminate concerns about future cash outflows, and furthermore, reduce costs associated with these prepaid forward contracts”.
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Editing by Jeffrey Goldfarb and Amanda Gomez
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Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.
The Rogers Building, the green-topped corporate campus of Canadian media conglomerate Rogers Communications is seen in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada July 9, 2022. REUTERS/Chris Helgren
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TORONTO, July 10 (Reuters) – Rogers Communications (RCIb.TO) complicated its chances of getting antitrust approval for a C$20 billion telecom merger after Friday’s massive outage highlighted the perils of Canada’s effective telecom monopoly and sparked a backlash against its industry dominance.
The Rogers network outage disrupted nearly every aspect of daily life, cutting banking, transport and government access for millions, and hitting the country’s cashless payments system and Air Canada’s (AC.TO) call center.
Consumers and opposition politicians called on the government to allow more competition and enact policy changes to curb telecom companies’ power. Rogers, BCE Inc (BCE.TO) and Telus Corp (T.TO) control 90% of the market share in Canada.
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Smaller internet and wireless providers rely on their infrastructure network to deliver their own services.
“The reality is in Canada there is a serious monopoly of our telecommunications,” New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh said in a TikTok video as he launched a petition to halt Rogers’ merger plans and “break up these monopolies”.
“The impact of this outage makes it clear this monopoly cannot continue,” he added.
Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne, calling the outage “unacceptable”, said on Sunday that he would meet with Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri and other industry executives to discuss improving the “reliability of networks across Canada.” High cellphone bills have been a hot-button issue in recent Canadian elections.
The disruption in internet access, cell phone and landline phone connections meant some callers could not reach emergency services via 911 calls, police across Canada said.
“Because of the Rogers outage, millions of Canadians couldn’t call 911 yesterday. Hospitals couldn’t call in staff. There was no way to call families so that they could say goodbye to their loved ones at end of life,” tweeted Amit Arya, director-at-large at the Canadian Society of Palliative Care Physicians.
Rogers, which blamed a router malfunction after maintenance for the disruption, said on Sunday it was aware that some customers were still facing disruptions. It did not comment on whether the outage could impact the merger proceedings.
Friday’s outage came two days after Rogers held talks with Canada’s antitrust authority to discuss possible remedies to its blocked C$20 billion ($15.34 billion) takeover of Shaw Communications (SJRb.TO).
Canada’s competition bureau blocked the deal earlier this year, saying it would hamper competition in a country where telecom rates are some of the world’s highest. The merger still awaits a final verdict.
The disruption could prompt the Competition Bureau, which generally assesses mergers based on their impact on price, to look more closely at other considerations such as quality and service, said consumer rights groups.
“It is a ‘non-price effect’ (argument) – that is, concentration of ownership and control of critical infrastructure making an ever more central point of failure to deliver basic services,” said John Lawford, executive director of the Ottawa-based Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), which has argued against the merger at the Competition Bureau.
But Vass Bedner, Executive Director of the Public Policy program in McMaster University, said the outage was a separate issue from Rogers’ merger plan.
“I don’t think this issue will impact the merger because I am not sure how the Competition Bureau can account for risk of bigger outage,” Bedner said.
University of Ottawa professor Michael Geist, who focuses on the internet and e-commerce law, said the outage “must be a wake-up for a government that has been asleep on digital policy.”
“The blame for Friday’s outage may lie with Rogers, but the government and (Canadian telecommunications regulator) should be held accountable for a failure to respond,” he wrote on his blog.
The outage, which began around 4:30 a.m. ET (0830 GMT) on Friday before service was fully restored on Saturday, knocked out a quarter of Canada’s observable internet connectivity, said the NetBlocks monitoring group.
The interruption was Rogers’ second in 15 months with an external software upgrade knocking out service primarily to consumer clients last year.
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Reporting by Divya Rajagopal; writing by Amran Abocar; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
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Outage renews criticism over telecom sector competition
TORONTO/OTTAWA, July 8 (Reuters) – A major network outage at one of Canada’s biggest telecom operators shut banking, transport and government access for millions all day on Friday, drawing outrage from customers and adding to criticism over Rogers Telecommunications’ (RCIb.TO) industry dominance.
Nearly every facet of life has been disrupted, with the outage affecting internet access, cell phone connections and landline phone connections. Some callers could not reach emergency services via 911 calls, police across Canada said.
Canadians who work from home crowded into cafes and public libraries that still had internet access and hovered outside hotels to catch a signal. Canada’s border services agency said the outage affected its mobile app for incoming travelers. Retailers’ cashless pay systems went down; banks reported issues with ATM services.
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Rogers said it would provide credits to affected customers. Its shares closed down 73 cents at $61.54 on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Later on Friday, Kye Prigg, a senior vice president at Rogers, told the CBC the company did not “have an ETA of when the problem will be fixed” and was still working to identify a cause.
“I wouldn’t like to say whether it’s going to be fully online today or not,” he said.
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Friday evening that the outage was not the result of a cyber attack.
The disruption also made transport and flight bookings more difficult at the height of the summer travel season.
So far, Transport Canada has not received reports of direct safety or security impacts to any flights, marine or rail services as part of this outage, according to spokesperson Sau Sau Liu.
The interruption was Rogers’ second in 15 months. It began around 4:30 a.m. ET (0830 GMT) and knocked out a quarter of Canada’s observable internet connectivity, said the NetBlocks monitoring group.
“Today we have let you down. We are working to make this right as quickly as we can,” Rogers said in a statement.
With about 10 million wireless subscribers and 2.25 million retail internet subscribers, Rogers is the top provider in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and home to its biggest city, Toronto. Rogers, BCE Inc (BCE.TO) and Telus Corp (T.TO) control 90% of the market share in Canada.
Canadian Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne in a tweet called the situation “unacceptable” and said he was in communication with telecom CEOs, including those from Rogers, Bell and Telus, to find a solution.
Canadian financial institutions and banks, including Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO) and Bank Of Montreal (BMO.TO), said the outage disrupted services. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) said its ATMs and online banking services were affected.
General view of the Rogers Building, quarters of Rogers Communications in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 22, 2021. REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
A spokesperson for Vancouver International airport, among Canada’s busiest, said travelers could not pay for parking, use terminal ATMs or purchase items at airport retailers.
Air Canada (AC.TO), the country’s largest airline, said its call center had been affected. Airlines in Canada, like those in Europe and the United States, have been experiencing high call volume amid flight cancellations and delays due to pandemic staffing shortages. read more
Pop star the Weeknd on Friday evening announced that his tour stop at the Rogers Centre stadium had been postponed due to service outages affecting venue operations.
“I’m crushed & heartbroken. Been at the venue all day but it’s out of our hands because of the Rogers outage,” the singer wrote in a tweet.
COMPETITION
Critics said the outage demonstrated a need for more competition in telecom.
Earlier this year, Canada’s competition bureau blocked Rogers’ attempt to take over rival Shaw Communications (SJRb.TO) in a C$20 billion deal, saying it would hamper competition in a country where telecom rates are some of the world’s highest. The merger still awaits a final verdict. read more
“Today’s outage illustrates the need for more independent competition that will drive more network investment so outages are far less likely,” said Anthony Lacavera, managing director of Globealive, an investment firm that had bid for a wireless provider involved in the Rogers/Shaw deal.
On Friday, some government agencies canceled services after losing internet access, including Canada’s passport offices and the telecoms regulator. The Canada Revenue Agency, the country’s tax collection body, lost telephone service.
‘CASH WILL BE KING’
Shops and restaurants in Toronto put “Cash Only” signs on their doors. Residents crowded into and around a nearby Starbucks coffee shop offering free Wi-Fi on an unaffected network.
“There’s tons of people here with their laptops just working away ferociously, the same as they would at home, because they’ve got no service at home,” said Starbucks customer Ken Rosenstein.
In downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, cafes including Tim Hortons were not accepting debit and credit cards and were turning away customers who did not have cash.
Michelle Wasylyshen, spokeswoman for the Retail Council of Canada, said outages would vary from one retailer to the next: “Cash will most certainly be king at many stores today.”
While the disruptions were widespread, several companies and transport points said their services were unaffected. The Port of Montreal reported no disruptions. The Calgary Airport Authority said it had “no major operational impacts.”
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Reporting by Yuvraj Malik, Eva Matthews, Shubham Kalia and Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Katharine Jackson in Washington; Divya Rajagopal and Chris Helgren in Toronto; Ismail Shakil in Ottawa; Writing by Rami Ayyub and Aurora Ellis; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Jonathan Oatis, David Gregorio and Leslie Adler
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