Ottawa upholds CRTC ruling on wholesale internet access to ‘allow for more competition’

Ottawa says it will uphold a ruling by Canada’s telecommunications regulator allowing the country’s largest internet companies to provide service to customers using fibre networks built by their rivals — as long as they do so outside their core regions.

Industry Minister Melanie Joly said in a statement Wednesday evening that the CRTC’s policy “will immediately allow for more competition on existing networks for high-speed internet services across the country.”

“Their decision to uphold the mandatory wholesale access framework was based on extensive consultation with experts, the Competition Bureau and over 300 public submissions,” Joly said in the statement, posted on X.

To that end, the government is declining to alter the CRTC’s decision to expand mandatory wholesale access.”

In June, the regulator issued its final decision on the contentious matter, which has pitted Telus Corp. against rivals Bell Canada and Rogers Communications Inc., and many smaller providers that opposed the framework.

Bell had argued against the policy, saying it discourages the major providers from investing in their own infrastructure, while some independent carriers raised concerns that it would make it more difficult for them to compete against larger players.

Telus had defended it as a way to boost competition in regions where it doesn’t have its own network infrastructure, which then improves affordability for customers.

Bell, Rogers called on Ottawa to overturn earlier ruling

A previous version of the framework initially kicked in May 2024 on a limited basis, when the regulator began requiring Bell and Telus to give competitors — including both big and small companies — access to their fibre-to-the-home networks, in exchange for a fee.

While those rules initially applied only in Ontario and Quebec, the CRTC then announced last August they would be extended to networks owned by telephone companies countrywide.

The CRTC chose to apply the policy only to existing fibre networks, in recognition “that building out fibre is expensive.” Any new fibre infrastructure built by the large telecoms can’t be made available to competitors for five years.

But the federal government then asked the commission to reconsider whether the Big Three providers should be able to act as wholesalers under the rules, citing concern about the viability of smaller internet providers to act as alternatives.

The CRTC opened a consultation into the matter and issued a temporary decision this past February that upheld the policy, while continuing its review.

In June, the CRTC said it determined its framework effectively balances the need for both competition and investment, while only having a “modest” near-term effect on the market share of regional carriers.