After big drop in Internet Service Provider competition, Canada mandates fiber-network sharing

In an attempt to boost broadband competition, Canada's telecommunication regulator, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), is forcing large phone companies to open their fiber networks to competitors. Smaller companies will be allowed to buy network capacity and use it to offer competing broadband plans to consumers. Evidence received during a comment period "shows that competition in the Internet services market is declining," the CRTC announced. CRTC hasn't made a final decision on fiber resale. But in the meantime, until a more permanent ruling is made, large telephone companies in Ontario and Quebec will be "required to provide competitors with access to their fibre-to-the-home networks within six months," the CRTC said. Fiber-provider Bell protested the ruling by announcing "its intention to reduce capital expenditures by over $1 billion in 2024-25, including a minimum of $500 to $600 million in 2024, money the company had planned to invest in bringing high-speed fibre Internet to hundreds of thousands of additional homes and businesses in rural, suburban and urban communities."