Question Period Note: Dormant phone lines paid for by the government

On April 1, 2023, Global News published an article about phone lines paid for by the Government of Canada, noting nearly one third of the fixed lines are dormant

• As part of the modernization of the Government of Canada’s telecommunications services, Shared Services Canada (SSC) works with partner departments to reduce non-essential telephony services
  • This includes a review and validation of landlines to eliminate those not operationally required and an ongoing review of mobile services based on utilization data
  • SSC also supports partner departments’ efforts towards the use of modern, more cost-effective solutions such as desktop communication technologies (for example, softphones)
  • Eliminating non-essential fixed landlines across the Government contributes to the modernization of our telephony services
  • SSC continues to work with departments to improve the efficiency of telephony services across the Government and reinvest savings in more cost-effective collaboration and communication solutions

If pressed:

• The validation process determines if there is a current or future need for the line or if the line is connected to another device or system that requires continued service, for example an elevator or alarm phone line
• SSC is proceeding cautiously in this work, and significant progress has been made

Not available

• 129,653 lines were identified as non-essential. To date, SSC has decommissioned 91,892 fixed lines. The remaining non-essential 37,761 fixed lines are in the process of being decommissioned