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Your computer act did keep rising as a result of fewer separate ISPs.

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The state would have declared a national disaster long ago if animal species were disappearing as quickly as opposition from American independent internet providers.
In recent years, small business internet service providers ( ISPs ) have either been absorbed by larger competitors or completely shut down. In a regulatory hearing a year ago, the Competitive Network Operators of Canada ( CNOC ) head Paul Andersen stated that independent operators have lost almost 40 % of subscribers nationwide and almost 50 % in Ontario and Quebec since late 2020.
CNOC itself is shrinking. The business now has merely 15 users, down from 31 only three years ago. More ISPs could be forced out when the CRTC ( Canada’s Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission ) makes its most recent ruling in this ongoing regulatory battle next week.
At the heart of this drop is the CRTC’s long-running fight to control competition. It has been tangled up in a fight for almost 20 years over whether independent services should be given equal access to networks created by larger telecom companies and how much.
The commission has made numerous attempts to advance Third Party Internet Access ( TPIA ), but the process has been chaotic. It has set time general exposure levels, had them appealed, tried to correct them, been forced to retreat, reconsidered them again, been told by government to take another look, and set rules for some regions that don’t apply to others—but might in the future.
Despite all this, opposition keeps shrinking, and the online marketplace is looking more like the wire TV industry—where fewer choices mean higher costs and weaker rivals.
Some argue that the solution is simple: those who invest in infrastructure—digging ditches and stringing poles to take fabric lines to homes—shouldn’t be forced to promote their sites.
In a real free market, that argument may make sense. But Canada’s telecoms business isn’t a free market. It is a guarded, regulated business in which policy decisions frequently shift.
Often, telecoms giants complain about regulation burdens. Other times, they benefit—such as when they are allowed to pack computer, cell phone, cable, and telephone services into special packages. All parties involved in the CRTC’s relationship are playing this game.
Under this method, blocking companies from accessing systems doesn’t market competition. It creates an oligarchy. At worst, it leads to a dominance.
For years, Bell, Rogers, and Telus have insisted that fewer competitors basically benefit consumers. They argue that the number of dogs in the battle doesn’t matter—it’s the battle in the dogs that matters.
They assert that a small number of powerful competitors can also maintain low prices and high service standards. Perhaps they acknowledge, however, that companies need an opportunity to build facilities.
That is where things get complicated.
Local businesses like SaskTel, Eastlink, and Videotron operate under various business types, which raises the question of how competition may become defined in a business where some people are government-owned while others are vertically integrated giants.
This brings us to Telus’s latest shift.
Right now, Telus—a telecoms giant in the West—is trying to enter Ontario as a “new company”. The business claims it deserves to be treated the same as separate ISPs and requests access to fibre sites created by both large and small people.
This attempt to play both sides has turned into a regulatory disaster, acting as an president in some markets and seeking favorable entry as a rival in people. Multiple CRTC decisions, government appeals, legal battles, and a Telus-backed “populist” plea have just complicated the situation.
While all of this happens, smaller ISPs struggle to stay afloat while incumbent can easily understand it. They need quality. Alternatively, they get pause after delay.
Customers deserve genuine competitors, but only if investors are aware of the stability of the regulatory environment. Right then, that security does not occur.
Next week, the CRTC will issue its latest decision. Did it eventually withstand competition, or will it allow Canadians to choose from fewer options and pay more for it?
Peter Menzies is a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an award-winning journalist, and past vice-chair of the CRTC.
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