The growing trend towards publicly community fibre networks, and a federal research agency’s endorsement of this model, is continuing to make incumbent telecom companies more than a little anxious. Their worry is that Canarie Inc’s promotion and subsidization of municipal fibre networks will cost them some key institutional accounts. At a Canarie policy committee held just prior to its sixth advanced networks workshop in Montreal, Nov. 28-29, some carriers were reportedly quite vehement in their denunciation of community-owned backbone.

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Telecom companies from southern Canada are being asked to underwrite the costs of maintaining telephony service in Canada’s far north. Telecom Decision 2000-746 opens up LD competition and provides for upgraded service for customers of Northwestel Inc. But a big part of the ruling forces other phone companies to offer supplemental funding to the northern ILEC.

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The CRTC’s long-awaited decision on contribution collection is an early Christmas gift for the new entrants, a lump of coal for Bell Canada and a bit of both for Telus Inc.

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