By Ahmad Hathout
The CRTC made final Wednesday Rogers’s new high-speed internet offerings to wholesale competitors.
For the eastern part of the country, Rogers sought last July to introduce speeds of 300 Mbps download and 30 Mbps upload and 300 Mbps/200 Mbps. For the west, it proposed those same speeds plus an option for 75 Mbps/50 Mbps. Because the speeds fell within the existing speed bands with approved interim rates, the cable giant did not propose new costs.
The speeds, introduced to comply with speed-matching requirements, had been in the market since September 2025 after the CRTC approved them on an interim basis, which TekSavvy urged the commission to do.
Because it is no longer offering them to its own customers, Rogers also sought to phase out the 250/30 and 250/200 speeds in the east and the 50/50, 250/50, 250/200, 750/50, 750/200, and 1 Gig/25 Mbps speeds in the west.
There was no opposition to the destandardization request and the CRTC approved it on Wednesday.
Quebecor asked the commission to make the wholesale rates for the 300/50 speeds the same as the phased-out 250/50 tier because a 50 Mbps increase in download speed did not justify 23 per cent rate increase that it said would harm competitors.
“Quebecor also indicated that the speed Rogers is seeking to destandardize is popular with retail customers of its subsidiary Freedom Mobile Inc., and that the proposed changes would have an impact on its ability to compete with Rogers and offer a strong alternative to Canadian consumers,” the CRTC said.
But the CRTC denied the request, noting that it has yet to make a decision on final rates for access to cable networks.
“The Commission acknowledges that losing access to the 250 Mbps download/50 Mbps upload speed may impede the ability of competitive Internet service providers to compete with Rogers. However, the Commission is of the view that it would be inappropriate to change established speed bands, or the rates within those speed bands, while the proceeding initiated by Telecom Notice of Consultation 2023-56 is still underway. The Commission also notes that all existing wholesale customers will be grandfathered on their respective speed tiers.”
