Canada’s Internet Future is on the Line

After a recent CRTC ruling, major telecom companies are threatening to halt investment or abandon rural communities. With nearly 15 years of experience in the Canadian telecom industry, I believe there’s a better way. It’s time to put our telecom infrastructure under public stewardship—so every Canadian, in every community, has access to fast, reliable, and fairly priced internet.

Subject: Ensuring Fair, Reliable, and Future-Proof Telecommunications for All Canadians

Dear Ministers Guilbeault and Anandasangaree,

I am writing regarding the recent CRTC decision Telecom Decision 2025-154 and the troubling responses from some of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies.

Following the CRTC’s ruling that incumbent Internet Service Providers must share their fibre infrastructure with competitors, several companies have publicly stated their intention to halt further investment. Notably, Eastlink has announced plans to abandon service in dozens of rural communities rather than adapt to the new regulatory environment.

This reaction signals that our current model for building and maintaining critical telecom infrastructure is not sustainable—either in the short term or the long term. When the physical networks that connect Canadians to the modern world are controlled entirely by private companies, service and investment decisions are driven by profitability, not public need. The withdrawal of service from rural and remote communities is a stark warning.

Canada needs a new approach to ensure fairness, reliability, and long-term stability in our telecommunications sector. This is the most practical and effective proposal to address the problem—and it can be implemented quickly, fairly, and sustainably:

• Place all telecommunications infrastructure under public stewardship, so no region is left dependent on a single private operator’s business priorities.
• Establish a new Crown corporation to own, operate, and modernise poles, conduits, last-mile fibre, and interconnection points.
• Guarantee equal access to all licensed service providers, large and small, through uniform wholesale pricing.
• Provide incumbents with up to 12 months of complimentary access after transition to offset recent investments.
• Adopt a self-sustaining financial model, funded entirely by provider access fees, without requiring ongoing taxpayer subsidies.
• Create regional oversight bodies with national review, ensuring local accountability and consistent national standards.

Such a system would secure universal access, prevent service withdrawal from vulnerable communities, and replace short-term profit-driven investment cycles with a long-term national vision.

Canada has, in the past, taken decisive steps to safeguard essential infrastructure in the public interest—be it rail, energy, or transportation. I urge you to consider similar action for telecommunications before more communities are left behind.

Sincerely,
Aaron Dyck
Hampton, NB