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Rogers to invest C$10bn in AI

Updated on: 25 July 2022

Human hand and robot hand touching. — Image by Shutterstock

Rogers Communications said on Sunday it will invest C$10 billion ($7.74 billion) over the next three years in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and more testing and oversight – just weeks after the company reported network issues that caused widespread disruptions across the country.

Chief Executive Officer Tony Staffieri said the Canadian telecom operator has made progress on a formal agreement between carriers to switch 911 calls to each other's networks automatically – even in the event of an outage on any carrier's network.

"I believe this is the only responsible way forward and I am personally committed to making it possible for all Canadians," Staffieri said in a letter on Sunday.

Staffieri said that the company is physically separating wireless and internet services to create an 'always on' network – to help make sure the customers don't experience an outage with both cellular and internet services again.

Earlier this month, the operator – which has about 10 million wireless subscribers and 2.25 million retail internet subscribers – suffered a glitch that lasted nearly 19 hours, disrupting services from flights to banking and emergency 911 calls.

The Canadian government has also ordered a probe and demanded telecom companies agree within 60 days to develop communication protocols to keep people better informed.