(Gatineau) The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is expanding a decision that allows small internet service providers to use their competitors’ fibre optic networks to offer their services to customers across Canada.
The CRTC said that starting in February 2025, major phone companies that own fibre-optic internet networks, such as Bell Canada and Telus, will have to provide access to their networks to competitors for a fee.
The announcement expands on a decision from late last year that temporarily required Bell and Telus to provide competitors with access to their fibre-to-the-home networks only in Ontario and Quebec within six months.
The CRTC’s decision was aimed at stimulating competition for internet services and it said at the time that an assessment could potentially make the directive permanent and apply it to other provinces.
Bell responded by cutting its network spending by $1.1 billion by 2025, saying the decision undermined the business logic for which it is investing.
The CRTC said its latest decision applies only to existing networks and that any new fibre built by the big telecoms will be made available to competitors in five years, to give Bell and Telus “an opportunity to get a faster return on their investments.”