Bell blames latent NG9-1-1 software bug for 87-minute multi-province outage

Bell Canada has told the CRTC that a previously undetected software bug in its next-generation 911 platform — not a cyberattack or planned change — caused an 87-minute outage across six provinces early on Sept. 17.

In a report made public this week and covered by CBC News, Bell assistant general counsel Philippe Gauvin said a “latent software issue” hit NG9-1-1 components at 3:13 a.m. ET in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Service was restored at 4:40 a.m., and Bell said it applied a permanent fix later that morning. The company stressed the incident “was not a cyber attack and did not result from any change activity, planned or unplanned.” The Winnipeg Free Press and Brandon Sun likewise reported the glitch explanation.

Bell said the vast majority of calls during the disruption were handled by backup systems, but legacy voice calls destined for centres already on next-generation technology could be missed. None of those missed calls led to a “critical public safety incident,” the filing said; Bell declined to tell CBC how many calls were lost. Two alarms at 3:13 and 3:19 a.m. failed to open the expected “war room,” so engineers were not notified until a separate monitor flagged a drop in incoming calls 24 minutes later. The response team convened at 3:48 a.m. Bell is still investigating the alarm failures, has added independent monitoring, and is reviewing the system end to end while sharing lessons with other providers. Details of the flaw itself were redacted on security grounds. Bell provides 911 carrier service in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces; Telus covers B.C. and Alberta, and SaskTel covers Saskatchewan. The CRTC still requires legacy 911 systems to be decommissioned by March 31 after a prior two-year extension.

Sources: CBC News — Bell CRTC 911 outage report; Winnipeg Free Press; Brandon Sun.