TekSavvy and co. ask CRTC to review and vary wholesale access rates

A coalition of service providers has filed a Part 1 application to the CRTC to review and vary the final wholesale access rates. The group, led by TekSavvy Solutions Inc., includes the B.C. Broadband Association, the Canada-Wide Internet Service Providers Association, and Fibernetics Corporation. Also part of the club is ISP Telecom Inc., National Capital FreeNet Inc., Novus Entertainment Inc., and Purple Cow Internet Inc. After the CRTC set the final rates for wholesale access in April, independent ISPs said the policy will do nothing to aid competition. This remains the basis of the coalition's argument to review and vary the decision. In a Thursday evening press release, TekSavvy called the rates “severely inflated,” adding the cost for access is higher than the retail prices charged by large carriers. “This makes competition impossible, as independent providers are forced to either sell at a loss or set prices above the large carriers, leaving millions of Canadian consumers without competitive options for essential internet services,” the release said. TekSavvy argues the rates set by the commission negate the purpose of the wholesale access framework: to foster competition. The application asks the CRTC to make two main changes to lower barriers to independent ISPs. The first is to eliminate the distribution and feeder fibre adjustment factor of 50 per cent to all wholesale fibre-to-the-premises services. Since a company builds out its infrastructure to every home in a given area, but does not necessarily retain subscribers in all homes, the adjustment factor represents a company’s expected usage of the deployed fibre feeder and distribution equipment. But the coalition says the CRTC erred in its application of the factor, and that it is incompatible with the phase II costing methodology used to determine the rates. “The Adjustment Factor provides incumbents with a subsidy from their wholesale customers (who are their retail competitors) to blunt the impact of market share loss that the incumbents would experience in a vibrant and sustainable competitive market. Such a subsidy goes against the tenets of Phase II costing,” the application read. The coalition argued this factor artificially inflated wholesale access rates by 25 to 30 per cent. It said previous commission decisions suggest adjustment factor approaches should only apply to shared plant with finite capacity, such as copper loops, not to dedicated plant with infinite capacity, like fibre access cables. Second, the coalition asks the CRTC to reduce the markup on wholesale fibre services from 30 per cent to 15 per cent to reflect “declining costs, operational efficiencies, and the need to support competition.” The commission’s decision maintained the previous 30 per cent markup, the coalition said, because those in favour of changing it did not provide sufficient evidence. However, the applicants called this explanation “wholly unreasonable” because the cost information needed to assess an appropriate markup is confidential and “in the exclusive possession of the incumbents.” The coalition further argued the incumbents did not provide any evidence to defend the continuation of a 30 per cent markup. Despite the CRTC’s finding in 2000 that common costs will continually decline over time, the application says, the 30 per cent markup remains unchanged in two decades. The application also looks to have technical errors corrected related to Telus Corp.’s wholesale fibre speed descriptions. “The stakes could not be any higher,” the application said. “Competitors have been pushed to and beyond the brink of failure due to persistent years of regulatory uncertainty and inflated wholesale pricing that the Commission has allowed to persist.” mcollins@thewirereport.ca

TekSavvy and co. ask CRTC to review and vary wholesale access rates

Regulatory |
By Maria Collins
|July 24, 2026

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TekSavvy and co. ask CRTC to review and vary wholesale access rates

Regulatory | By Maria Collins |July 24, 2026

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