Last mile decision 'levels playing field': Rogers CEO

By Ahmad Hathout Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri said Thursday that the CRTC’s decision to force the large telephone companies to open access to their last mile fibre networks “levels the playing field” with cable carriers who service the bulk of wholesale-based subscribers. “We’ve been required to wholesale under the regulatory regime high-speed internet for quite some time,” Staffieri said during a third quarter conference call. “So it’s good to see a level playing field.” The majority of wholesale-based competitors were using the large cable companies’ hybrid fibre-coax networks, which accounts for 75 per cent of all wholesale-based subscriptions, the CRTC...