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Canada's massive network outage hits police, banks and cashless payments

People use electronics outside a coffee shop in Toronto amid a nationwide Rogers outage, affecting many of the telecommunication company's services. (AP)

As per NetBlocks, an internet watchdog group, a quarter of Canada's internet connections were "knocked out." Rogers is Canada's top mobile carrier, with more than 11 million wireless subscribers and nearly three million internet users, collectively controlling along with Bell Inc. and Telus Corp. almost 90 percent of the wireless market, AFP reported.

While it was unclear what caused the outages, Evan Koronewski, a spokesman for the Communications Security Establishment, a government agency responsible for cybersecurity and signals intelligence, told AFP that "at this time, CSE has no indication this is related to malicious cyber threats."

Additionally, Canada's Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said he had spoken with the Rogers CEO and shared "the frustration of millions of Canadians." Champagne took to Twitter to share, "this unacceptable situation is why quality, diversity & reliability are key to our telecom network."

According to media reports, the police in several Canadian cities including the capital Ottawa and Toronto came out with a warning that people were unable to call 911 for emergencies due to the outage. Montreal also said its municipal services line was down. Meanwhile around the country, Rogers customers complained about not being able to make calls or use the internet. Several major banks said money transfers and cashless payments could not be processed. Telephone and online banking, as well as ATM withdrawals, were also affected, according to AFP report.

While the Royal Bank of Canada shared in a tweet that the outage was "affecting all financial institutions," coffee shops and retailers in several city centers tweeted signs saying they were accepting "cash only" for purchases.

(With inputs from AFP)

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