Telecommunications provider TekSavvy is asking the federal regulator to lower the rates that small carriers pay large companies to resell internet over their fibre networks, arguing competition is “impossible” under the current rules.
TekSavvy is part of a coalition of independent internet providers and industry associations that submitted an application to the CRTC on Thursday urging it to reconsider the decision it made in April.
At the time, the regulator said those rates would allow dozens of competitors to “continue offering new choices to Canadians while also ensuring companies are compensated fairly for the investments they make to connect Canadians to fibre.”
But the group says the CRTC approved “severely inflated” wholesale rates that don’t allow independent providers to compete because they must either sell service at a loss or set retail prices higher than the large carriers.
Among their asks, TekSavvy and its allies want the CRTC to reduce the 30 percent markup applied to wholesale fibre services to 15 percent, in order to account for declining costs, operational efficiencies, and the need to support competition.
The CRTC has faced backlash from both big and small carriers over its wholesale internet framework, which was finalized last year, especially because it also allows large companies to resell fibre internet using their rivals’ networks outside their core regions.
