Latest news with #CRTCdecision
National Post
3 days ago
- Business
- National Post
'Dangerous decision': Telecom CEO blasts Joly's decision to uphold CRTC's wholesale internet rules
Article content '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,' she wrote. Article content The decision was made the day before Bell Canada's quarterly results were announced. Bell's stock was down that morning, and observers noted a correlation with the minister's decision. Article content Article content In an analyst call that morning, Bell'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.' Article content It also came a few weeks after Cogeco announced a new mobile service with an introductory one-year free offer. Article content 'With this decision, the minister is essentially saying it's okay if the Big Three get even bigger. It's okay if the regional, local players suffer, and it's okay if there's a re-monopolization of telecoms in Canada,' Perron said. Article content 'We don't think it's okay. Consumers won't think it's okay, and we'll fight to make sure it doesn't happen.' Article content Cogeco and Eastlink, which announced last week it was 'suspending further planned upgrades to many smaller communities across Canada,' filed an appeal in July asking the Federal Court of Appeal to quash the decision. Article content But in Ottawa, overriding a decision from the CRTC was seen as a 'bold move' and that could 'rattle the cage' not even six months after an election and a new prime minister in charge. Sources said the minister had a duty to ensure the sustainability of institutions and protect the national interest. Article content Champagne, who has since become minister of finance, did not comment for this story. His office confirmed that he attended the cabinet meeting in which the decision was confirmed and that 'Canada's new government has a strong mandate to bring costs down and to build one, strong, Canadian economy.' Article content 'We would have liked to see a lot more courage, and I'm happy to be quoted on that. It seems to me like deferring to the CRTC and maintaining the status quo was the easy way, but not the right way. Sometimes the best decision is the hard decision in life, and we are saddened that the hard decision was not made,' said Perron. In a statement last week, Rogers Communications said 'the Carney government has declared its priority is to build a strong Canada and this decision does the exact opposite.' Article content A recent PwC study shows that the telecommunication sector directly contributed $87.3 billion in GDP to Canada's economy and supported over 661,000 jobs in 2024. Article content By 2035, the Canadian telecom industry could contribute another $112 billion to Canada's overall GDP, according to the study. Article content
National Post
07-08-2025
- Business
- National Post
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. Article content In a landmark decision announced late Wednesday evening, Joly sided with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) after it decided to allow for greater competition on existing networks for high-speed Internet services across the country. Article content Article content Article content The CRTC authorized Canada's three major telecommunications companies to resell fibre optics to Internet service providers (ISPs) on their respective networks. Article content Article content 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. Article content '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. Article content '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. Article content Article content 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.' Article content '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. Article content 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. Article content 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.' Article content 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.
Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cogeco, Eastlink seek to appeal CRTC decision on wholesale fibre rules
Two telecommunications companies are seeking to appeal a recent CRTC decision that reaffirmed the ability of Canada's Big Three internet companies to resell fibre internet over rivals' networks. In a legal challenge filed at the Federal Court of Appeal on Friday, Cogeco Inc. and Halifax-based Eastlink said the regulator's June decision should be quashed. They alleged that the CRTC rendered an "effectively arbitrary decision" that ignored key arguments and evidence, while also erring in law and jurisdiction. "Based on the incorrect conclusion that the Big Three are 'new' service providers, the CRTC allowed the Big Three to co-opt a regulatory framework ... to instead compete against each other and against these truly new, regional, and smaller providers," the court filing states. Last month, the CRTC ruled that Rogers Communications Inc., BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. can provide internet service to customers using fibre networks built by one another — as long as they are doing so outside their core serving regions. Telus has defended that policy as a way to boost competition in regions where it doesn't have its own network infrastructure, which then improves affordability for customers. Bell and Rogers oppose it, saying the rules discourage the major providers from investing in their own infrastructure. Many regional and independent carriers have raised concerns that it could make it more difficult for them to compete against larger players. They point out the Big Three are able to offer bundled internet, cellphone and TV packages for a discount, while some standalone internet providers cannot. "The CRTC is stubbornly maintaining a broken ... resale regime that has completely failed to meet its original objective to help new entrants get into the market," Cogeco president and CEO Frédéric Perron said earlier this week on his company's latest earnings call. "The CRTC is misusing its power and is favouring telecom giants at the expense of regional players such as Cogeco. It's like forcing regional airlines to let national airlines use their planes. It just doesn't make any sense." The CRTC said its rules effectively balance the need for both competition and investment, while only having a "modest" near-term effect on the market share of regional carriers. It said it plans to continue evaluating the effect on the industry, noting there have been "early indicators of improved competitive intensity" but that the extent to which the new rules "will ultimately be successful is still unknown." But Cogeco and Eastlink say the CRTC erred in law "in a way that irremediably tainted the rest of its analysis." It said the regulator's decision "treats the country's largest and most powerful telecommunications service providers as 'new' and reduces barriers to competition for the largest players in the telecommunications market, while increasing these barriers — with potentially fatal effect — for everyone else." The carriers argued that the commission should "not have concluded that the Big Three are 'new' service providers, given that they are the largest providers of telecommunications services across Canada." Cogeco and Eastlink also characterized the CRTC's reasoning for its decision as "so insufficient that the CRTC breached procedural fairness and effectively rendered an arbitrary decision by wholly failing to acknowledge or address the long-term effects of bundling ... or the incoherence of the policy with the broader regulatory regime." 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. Those rules initially applied only in Ontario and Quebec, as the CRTC cited a significant competitive decline in those provinces. It noted independent internet providers had been serving 47 per cent fewer customers than two years earlier as many were bought out by larger internet providers. The CRTC announced in August 2024 the rules would be extended to networks owned by telephone companies countrywide. 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 rules, followed by its final determination in June. The federal cabinet has until Aug. 13 to decide whether to overrule that decision. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025. Companies in this story: (TSX:CGO, TSX:BCE, TSX:T, TSX:RCI.B) Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press Sign in to access your portfolio
