Bell is publicly pushing back against Telus’ lobbying efforts to keep accessing competitors’ broadband networks instead of investing in its own.
In a pair of posts on X, Bell highlighted recent comments from two analyst reports questioning Telus’ strategy in Ontario and Quebec. Bell quoted a July 28 report from National Bank of Canada that challenged the premise behind Telus’ campaign for more competition.
“It’s easy to drum up calls for more competition and lower prices in telecom,” the report stated, “but there’s always been relatively more competition in telecom in Central Canada than in Western Canada, and we wonder if those signing the petition are aware of the many plan options available in the market from multiple carriers.”
The bank added there’s “no lack of choice in Ontario or Quebec,” with plans available for a wide range of usage and income levels.
In another post, Bell cited TD Cowen’s July 21 note about Telus’ recent infrastructure investment claims. “Our initial view is that this announcement is more bark than bite,” the report reads. “We doubt that Telus will end up spending anywhere close to $2 billion in Ontario and Quebec.”
Last week, Telus told media outlets it had countersued Bell for $1 million, a response to the latter accused of trying to block competition in Ontario and Quebec. “Telus is delivering what the CRTC intended: more choice and better prices,” the company said in its lawsuit.
The posts by Bell are the latest jab in an ongoing rivalry between two major telecoms over broadband access rules and infrastructure funding. Keep that popcorn flowing folks, this ain’t over yet.
Want to see more of our stories on Google?
P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!
I used to work for Telus
this is such a complicated issue.
this first started with the copper internet lines, then cell towers, and now fiber optic lines.
large isps like Telus and Bell install infrastructure assuming a certain return on investment over a certain period of time. And this is on top of the decades of infrastructure they have built up since the companies began. Bell has been around for over a hundred years and has the infrastructure to prove it. Similarly, parts of teles's network are just as old, and became property of telus through mergers and acquisitions.
to install fiber throughout an entire province like Telus did in British Columbia it cost tens of billions of dollars from a company that only profits 1 billion per year throughout all of Canada. And Telus wants to do fiber in more than just British Columbia. So there is no way for them to pay for the fiber lines up front, they build infrastructure assuming that they will get a certain percentage of the customers in the area at a certain rate, and calculate how long it will take to recoup their investment.
for small companies trying to start up, they don't have decades of infrastructure, nor the capital to install their own lines. Not to mention it's very difficult, if not impossible, to get permits to install telecommunication lines when there are already communication lines in the area. But, at the same time, if you give too many companies permission to install their own lines in the same area, your telephone poles end up looking like the telephone poles from India you see in all the memes, 100 telephone lines stapled messily to a single telephone pole.
so then the government steps in and says to the large isps it's very difficult, near impossible for smaller companies to complete. The government then forces the large isps to share their infrastructure to the smaller providers at wholesale prices.
this is well below the calculated return on investment they had planned for, thus increasing the time to recuperate the investment, and slowing future projects, if the future projects are still profitable at all.
telus has scaled back installing new fiber optic lines for the past couple years until recently…
In my city, a telus city, we were supposed to get fiber several years ago, and now fiber is finally being installed, but not by telus. Telus sold the rights to install and operate the fiber to a third party. Telus will have exclusive access to this fiber for the first 2 years and then access to the fiber will be opened up to all isps throughout Canada.
I see both sides of the issue, for the small guys, yes it's impossible to compete when they aren't allowed to install their own infrastructure, even if
they could afford it, which they can't.
At the same time, the big guys have gotten to where they are by building up their business over decades, if not a century. They have worked for what they have, and having the government step in and making them share what they worked hard for with your competition is not fair either.
there is no easy answer.
in my opinion, if the government wants to dictate who can use the infrastructure, the government should own, and operate the infrastructure and lease it out to the providers.
but then you'll have all the people complaining about communism and socialism…
there is no winning here