Ottawa sides with CRTC to boost competitor access to fibre networks

OTTAWA – Industry Minister Mélanie Joly has upheld the CRTC’s wholesale regulatory framework for high-speed Internet services, giving Telus Corp. a victory after a long battle. But other telecom operators are furious.

In a landmark decision announced late Wednesday evening, Joly sided with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) after it decided to allow for greater competition on existing networks for high-speed Internet services across the country.

The CRTC authorized Canada’s three major telecommunications companies to resell fibre optics to Internet service providers (ISPs) on their respective networks.

This decision means, for example, that Telus, which is strong in Western Canada, can use other providers’ networks to attract thousands of customers in Ontario and Quebec instead of building its own infrastructure.

“By immediately increasing competition and consumer choice, the CRTC’s decision aims to reduce the cost of high-speed Internet for Canadians and will contribute toward our broader mandate to bring down costs across the board,” said Joly in a statement.

The August 2024 decision, confirmed in June 2025 by the regulator, was based on extensive expert consultation, and the CRTC received more than 300 public comments.

“This decision… sends a strong signal to consumers, businesses and investors that the Canadian regulatory system is robust, transparent and effective in balancing the needs of stakeholders, and enabling government policy,” said Telus President and CEO Darren Entwistle.

The CRTC recently said that “several thousand Canadian households” are already benefiting from new plans offered by “dozens of providers that are using the access enabled by the Final Decision.”

“Changing course now would reverse the benefits of this increased competition and would prevent more Canadians from having new choices of ISPs in the future,” wrote the CRTC in its June 20 decision.

Telus has been lobbying lawmakers for over a year and even launched a petition that garnered over 300,000 signatures in support of the regulator’s decision.

Entwistle signalled that his company is “passionately committed to building national infrastructure and technology for the benefit of consumers, and the productivity and innovation of our private and public sectors.”

However, key players like Bell, Rogers and Cogeco aren’t thrilled about it. Many companies had been challenging the decision and asked cabinet to review it.

Last November, former Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne asked the CRTC to “reconsider” its decision to “respond to concerns about the business case for future and ongoing investments in infrastructure in less densely populated areas.”

A year later, many players are “dismayed,” “shocked” and “profoundly disappointed” by the federal government’s decision.

“Virtually the entire industry, including small and regional providers, urged our elected officials to reverse the CRTC decision,” Rogers Communications said in a statement. “The impact of this decision will include cuts to capital investment, a loss of network construction jobs, and reduced competition which will mean higher prices for Canadians.”

In an analyst call on Thursday morning, Bell Canada’s CEO Mirko Bibic said he was “disappointed” and urged the government and the CRTC “to ensure that network builders are fully compensated for significant build costs and investment risks they take in building.”

Bell Canada’s executive vice president, Robert Malcolmson, recently said that “as a direct result” of the policy, his company has reduced its capital expenditures by $500 million in 2025 alone and by over $1.2 billion since the CRTC’s initial decision in November 2023.

Rogers and Cogeco, for instance, are asking Ottawa to immediately reconsider this decision.

“The Federal Cabinet’s inaction is unacceptable,” said Cogeco’s President and CEO Frédéric Perron in a statement.

“The CRTC’s current approach undermines choice and affordability, halting crucial innovation and investment vital for Canada’s future,” he added.

According to Cogeco, smaller or independent providers that don’t have their own facilities could very well be threatened by this policy.

In fact, Eastlink’s executive vice chair Lee Bragg announced Thursday that his company is “suspending further planned upgrades to many smaller communities across Canada.”

“I have instructed our team to take the next 30 days to identify communities that will become unprofitable and therefore require shutdown as a result of this decision,” he said.

Bragg called Minister Joly’s decision a “disregard for the smaller regional operators who have brought healthy competition to the marketplace.”

Cogeco and Eastlink filed an appeal in July asking the Federal Court of Appeal to quash the decision.

National Post
atrepanier@postmedia.com

Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our newsletters here.