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Year in review 2024: Premier Pillai vs. telecom giants

Take a look back at the Yukon News' top recurring stories of the year
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A person pulls out their phone in downtown Whitehorse on April 27, 2023.

“Yukoners are pissed,” Premier Ranj Pillai wrote to Bell Canada's top executive, Mirko Bibic, in July. 

Bell was the first of three telecommunications giants Pillai put on blast this summer regarding ongoing issues with telecom service in the Yukon, like frequent dropped calls, interruptions and poor coverage being reported by Yukon residents, businesses and First Nations. 

Bell operates cell towers in the territory. 

In turn, Bell committed to compensating Yukon-based customers affected by service disruptions, as well as to fixing the problem by investing in the territory’s infrastructure. 

Bell set up a Yukon-specific line that the premier said affected Yukoners were calling and getting compensation from. 

Pillai advised Yukoners using a different carrier to call their service provider and ask for credit. 

Then Pillai took Rogers Communications and TELUS Corporation, as well as their respective subsidiaries, to task. 

He called on Rogers and TELUS to follow Bell’s example: compensate Yukoners for continuing service woes. 

Pillai wrote to presidents Tony Staffieri of Rogers and Darren Entwistle of TELUS about ongoing inadequate cellphone service experienced by Yukoners. 

TELUS invited Yukon-based customers to provide their feedback through a newly created, dedicated website so TELUS can gather and address issues experienced by customers in the Yukon, per Entwistle. 

Entwistle said customers who complete an online questionnaire will get credit towards their next TELUS device purchase. 

The response from TELUS was criticized by the Yukon government cabinet communications as being “unacceptable.” 

Pillai continued to raise the issue trying to get Yukoners and small businesses fairly paid back for shoddy service. 

In September 2024, Pillai raised the issue with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services in Ottawa. It is Canada’s independent industry-funded body for helping telecom customers resolve service complaints.  

The premier indicated the national body and the territorial government will work together to inform Yukoners about how they can file complaints and get additional compensation beyond what Bell and TELUS are offering. 

“Increasing local complaints can also prompt action from federal regulators regarding telecom issues,” Pillai said. 

Northwestel’s Canada North Fibre Loop through the Yukon and Northwest Territories was completed late in 2024. 

Northwestel president Curtis Shaw said that bringing online the Dempster fibre line, which runs 778 kilometres between Dawson City and Inuvik, N.W.T., will make repeated, major disruptions "a thing of the past.” 

Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com 



Dana Hatherly

About the Author: Dana Hatherly

I’m the legislative reporter for the Yukon News.
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