Canada regulator expands internet network-sharing provision to telcos nationwide

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Large Canadian telecommunication companies will have to share fiber internet infrastructure with smaller competitors from next year, Ottawa said on Tuesday, expanding a measure designed to lower prices and increase choices.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), the telecoms regulator, has been trying to make services more affordable, citing declining competition among high-speed internet service providers.

In November, it asked large telecoms companies to give smaller rivals access to their networks in Ontario and Quebec: the two most populous provinces and the worst impacted by a decline in competition. Tuesday’s decision will expand that provision to the entire country, starting in February 2025.

“(This) will deliver more choice to Canadians who want higher-speed Internet at lower prices by enabling competitors to use the fiber networks of the large telephone companies and will maintain incentives for companies to invest in high-quality networks,” the CRTC said in a statement.

The provision would only apply to fiber network that has already been built. Any new network built by telephone companies will be made available to competitors in five years, the regulator said.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil; editing by David Ljunggren and Jonathan Oatis)