An outage affecting 911 services in several Canadian provinces for about 90 minutes last month was attributed to a hidden glitch in Bell’s software, according to a report released by the company. The incident, which impacted Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, occurred at 3:13 a.m. ET on September 17.
Bell clarified that the disruption was not the result of a cyber attack or any intentional changes made to the system. The glitch affected elements of Bell’s next-generation 911 system, known as NG9-1-1, designed to enhance emergency response by allowing the public to provide more detailed information to dispatchers.
The company identified and resolved the root cause, restoring service by 4:40 a.m. and implementing a permanent fix shortly after. Although the outage affected call services across the six provinces, backup systems managed the majority of calls successfully during the disruption.
According to the report submitted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the missed calls did not lead to any critical public safety incidents. Bell, recognizing the seriousness of the interruption, mentioned that steps have been taken to prevent a recurrence.
The report also highlighted that early alarms signaling the outage did not activate the necessary crisis response promptly. Engineers were not alerted until a separate alarm system indicated a drop in incoming calls. Bell is investigating why the initial alarms failed and has introduced additional monitoring mechanisms for better oversight.
To safeguard against potential risks, Bell omitted specific details about the software flaw to prevent exploitation by hackers. The company emphasized its commitment to ensuring the reliability and continuous improvement of emergency calling services for the public’s safety.
Holly Barkwell, the Canadian region director for the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), acknowledged the resilience of Canada’s 911 system while recognizing the inevitability of technological challenges. The CRTC has set a deadline for decommissioning all legacy 911 systems in Canada, previously extended by two years to allow for a smoother transition.