In an after hours announcement Minister Champagne directed the CRTC to reconsider its earlier decision to mandate High Speed Access resale allowing the large incumbents Bell, Rogers and Telus to resell each others' FTTH services in Ontario and Quebec.
Of course the Minister couldn't just say that, he first had to deny the Bell Petition that would have rescinded the wholesale decision altogether or vary it on his motion. Rather than do that himself, the Minister referred it back to the CRTC to *ahem* reconsider. Readers may recall that I identified this aspect of the decision as being a colossally bad idea in a blog post back in May. For one, it seemed to arbitrarily expose Bell to a resale requirement of its fibre assets that was not symmetrically imposed on Rogers and Telus.
We can anticipate that the CRTC will remove this mandate, or at least they would be well advised to do so having been invited to so so it would seem by the Minister.This should come as a relief not only to Bell but frankly, to the competitive ISPs as well who would likely prefer not to have Rogers and Telus competing against them with Bell fibre. For several paragraphs the Minister goes to great pains to thank the CRTC for its good intentions and service but ultimately admits that he is concerned both with the ongoing incentive to invest in fibre and the viability of the smaller independent reseller ISPs. Specifically, he says:
The government has concerns about fostering the viability of small and regional Internet service providers that provide alternatives and about maintaining investments in Internet infrastructure, particularly in underserved areas including rural, remote and Indigenous communities.
Check in here periodically for updates on the process the CRTC implements for its reconsideration while presumably the impacted carriers will pause reselling each others' FTTH pending the CRTC's decision.
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