Bell has started a public marketing campaign against the CRTC’s fibre wholesale strategy ahead of a final review this summer.

This fight began last summer when the CRTC instated a ruling that forces Bell and Telus, Canada’s largest fibre internet providers, to share their networks with smaller internet service providers (ISPs) to increase competition, and, ideally, lower prices.

However, the ruling also allows incumbent providers, like the Big Three, to share networks with each other, and that’s the area Bell is taking the largest issue with. The telecom doesn’t want Telus on its networks.

This ruling means that if Bell or Telus install a fibre line to your home, other ISPs can pay a fee to use those lines to offer you fast internet. If you’re wondering where Rogers sits in all this, it’s technically classified as a “cable company,” not a “telephone company,” and cable companies were already required to offer wholesale access. 

However, Rogers and cable broadband internet already went through a similar network sharing/wholesale feud a few years ago. Throughout these new hearings, Rogers has mostly been silent, but it does have a smaller fibre footprint that would be accessible to others if this ruling proceeds.

Wholesale access to fibre lines is helpful because, traditionally, the larger providers have the most resources to build out infrastructure, and it doesn’t really make sense for neighbourhoods in Canada to be potentially covered with multiple identical fibre lines. It also helps people in areas with only one provider get access to other sales and pricing, which can increase competition.

For instance, where I used to live, Bell was the only provider with fibre in the area, so I had to buy from it if I wanted the best internet upload speeds. In smaller towns, it can be even more locked down. My sister lives in a rural area where the only actual high-speed internet providers she has access to are Starlink and Rogers fibre. The other options are extremely slow (

Bell threatens fibre investment if it doesn’t get its way

Initially, Bell claimed it would stop its fibre rollout in retaliation, but now it’s revised that to just a decrease in investment. In a new press release, Bell says it will drop 1.5 million homes from its fibre rollout plans and cut expenditures by $500 million this year alone.

In the same release, the company says that if the CRTC reverses its policies, it will “unlock billions worth of nation-building investments.” These will come from private sector investments, according to Bell VP and chief legal officer Robert Malcolmson.

We reached out to the telecom for more information surrounding these speculative investments, but the company’s response merely reiterated what it already said in the press release.

This isn’t the first time Bell has pulled this move, but it’s the first time in a while that it’s put lobbying levels of marketing behind it. In February, Bell CEO Mirko Bibic said, “We’re not in the business of building fibre for Telus’s benefit” and announced it would cut fibre investments. Going back to 2023, the company cut funding when the CRTC first announced this fibre-line resale project. 

So, it’s unclear if the new cuts are the same eschewed investments or new ones.

Not openly related to this specific CRTC ruling, but Bell has also withdrawn from its deal to bring high-speed internet to northern Labrador. Bell signed up for this project in 2022, and the government allocated $32 million to help. 

However, Bell now says it will cost $110 million, and backed out. It’s also unclear if this is in response to the CRTC’s ruling or the sudden increase in costs.

There have also been many rounds of Bell layoffs over the past two years as the company restructured its ownership of The Source and cut down on its subsidiaries. 

The company also reported in Q1 of 2025 that its net earnings were $683 million, so it doesn’t seem like Telus is taking a large chunk of its home internet earnings. In the same report, Bell actually reported a 1.8 per cent increase in home internet subscribers.

Bell looks to U.S. fibre

There’s also some irony in Bell arguing for Canadian fibre investment amid the company’s own U.S. expansion. Last year, Bell acquired Ziply Fiber in a bid to extend its fibre footprint south of the border, and just last week announced plans to make a U.S. fibre company to facilitate fibre infrastructure development in underdeveloped U.S. communities.

Throughout 2024, Bell saw revenue growth of 1.1 per cent with a profit of $375 million. This is significantly below the 2023 profit of $2.3 billion. However, when you look at the ‘Adjusted Net Earnings,’ Bell actually says it made. $2.7 billion in 2024, which is only a little below 2023’s $2.9 billion.

In the Bell release from the end of 2024, CFO Curtis Millen said, “Despite ongoing competitive pricing pressures, we believe that the superiority of fibre over cable, our 5G wireless services, enterprise solutions business and digital subscriptions and advertising present opportunities for growth.”

“Overall, we remain confident in our ability to execute under any circumstances and to deliver value for our shareholders.”

Notably, Bell and Telus partnered on a network sharing agreement years ago that allows them to share each other’s mobile phone networks across the country, which improved mobile service for all Canadians.

While that deal was quite different than this wholesale fibre proposal, it is weird to see the companies at odds with each other when previous collaborations have been so helpful to everyday Canadians and allowed for more competition.