Canadian operators clash over access to fiber networks

Bell Canada President and CEO George Cope told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission that incumbent telcos should no longer be forced to give independent Internet service providers wholesale access to legacy copper-based networks.

Citing the company's significant spending on the deployment of fiber, Cape claims that if independent ISPs have access to fiber networks then speeds will slow to such an extent that services such as IPTV will not be able to be offered. However, Andrew Day, CEO of Primus Telecom, said that unless changes are made to allow the company to offer speeds similar to those that will be on offer soon from Bell, Aliant and Telus, then 'Primus will effectively be forced out of the residential high speed Internet business within five years'. Day also stated that allowing ISPs access to new networks actually spurs investment, arguing that Primus does not solely resell Internet access but has also spent hundreds of millions of dollars on its own infrastructure.