Bell and Telus reached an agreement after a months-long battle over wholesale access to each other’s networks.
Per the Globe and Mail, the two carriers agreed to withdraw complaints they had submitted to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The commission closed the case file on Feb. 27 and wrote in a letter that it “expects that any processes and procedures associated with the wholesale provisioning of [high-speed access] will apply to all wholesale customers equally.”
In the complaints, the carriers accused each other of deliberate attempts to block access to their respective networks after Telus launched home internet services in Ontario using Bell’s network, and Bell launched internet in Western Canada through Telus’ network via the CRTC’s wholesale access framework.
The wholesale framework requires incumbent internet service providers (ISPs) like Bell and Telus to allow other providers to provide internet services using their networks. While the wholesale framework has been around for some time, it was expanded in 2024 to include fibre access. As part of that expansion, the CRTC also decided to allow the Big Three to resell each other’s fibre, though Telus was the only provider to advocate for that change.
Since then, we’ve seen Telus launch internet services in Ontario and Quebec, while Bell initially fought against the rules before ultimately announcing its own plans to expand into Western Canada using Telus’ fibre — something the company is now following through on after pulling its complaint against Telus.
In Jan. 2026, things started heating up with Telus accusing Bell of disrupting its ability to sign up and support customers in Ontario and Quebec. Bell fired back in its own complaint, accusing Telus of failing to offer a functional wholesale system. Some independent ISPs, including B.C.-based Everyday Computers and Ontario-based TekSavvy, also filed complaints supporting Bell’s claims.
However, it’s the smaller players that are hurt the most by these issues. Bell and Telus can absorb costs from faulty systems, but smaller players can’t. Worse, the CRTC sets the wholesale rates. Still, TekSavvy’s head of regulatory affairs told the Globe that incumbent players undercut the mandated rates, making it hard for smaller ISPs to attract new customers.
Source: CRTC Via: The Globe and Mail
