All publicly funded broadband projects should be subject to current CRTC wholesale access rules, says Ontario consultant

The head of a broadband service consulting firm in Ontario wants the CRTC to make clear that broadband connectivity projects funded with public money, beginning with a fund operating in Southwestern Ontario, have to open up wholesale high-speed network access to their competitors. Networks built using public funds have an obligation to provide open access, notes Adam Ross Hill, CEO of Broadlytics Inc., pointing to the Southwestern Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT) program as the main example in his application. It is a non-profit, municipally-led broadband fund. At the time of the fund's creation, the CRTC’s wholesale framework required disaggregated access. The regulator has since changed the wholesale regime to require aggregated fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) access. Hill writes that SWIFT maintains ownership rights in the underlying infrastructure at 51 per cent of assets of funded projects, meaning the SWIFT program and carriers receiving funding are “subject to the same wholesale obligations that apply to other federally regulated carriers” because they are “effectively publicly owned telecommunications facilities. “As such, they fall under the commission’s wholesale access framework and cannot be exempted by virtue of procurement timelines,” he wrote. But part of the problem being raised now, according to Hill’s application, is that those in charge of SWIFT-funded projects often choose disaggregated interconnection points that are “remote and impractical, requiring competitors to build long-haul fibre to reach them. “This defeats the purpose of ‘open access’ and mirrors the problems that led the CRTC to mandate aggregated FTTP access nationwide,” the application states. Hill is asking the regulator to declare that “SWIFT-funded networks cannot rely solely on disaggregated interconnection points that create unreasonable barriers for competitors…” Going even further, he wants to see the CRTC “affirm that any carrier or operator that has accepted public funding under government broadband programs where open access networks were central in funding consideration — including, but not limited to, the initiative," are effectively obligated to follow the open access rules of the current wholesale regime. “I want to make it clear: getting the wires in the ground, the services delivered, is the primary focus, and that's one of the reasons why I've waited so long to even raise the issue,” Hill told The Wire Report in an interview. To exempt SWIFT-funded carriers from the aggregated wholesale regime “would establish a two-tier system where publicly funded networks face weaker obligations than private carriers,” Hill wrote. As such, his application requests that wholesale obligations for SWIFT program contractors “be enforced in practice by aggregated interconnection, not disaggregated-only points irrespective of recipient size.” It also wants to see the CRTC help to determine “appropriate interconnection points… that are fair and equitable to parties who wish to access the network.” SWIFT program spokesperson Melissa O'Brien told The Wire Report in an email Tuesday, Aug. 26 that it is still reviewing the application’s details and would not comment at this time. hdaley@thewirereport.ca

All publicly funded broadband projects should be subject to current CRTC wholesale access rules, says Ontario consultant

Regulatory |
By Hannah Daley
| August 25, 2025

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All publicly funded broadband projects should be subject to current CRTC wholesale access rules, says Ontario consultant

Regulatory | By Hannah Daley | August 25, 2025

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By Hannah Daley
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