Will competition suffer, or will incumbents stop investing?

By Perry Hoffman

OTTAWA - Comments filed on the CRTC’s reconsideration of speed matching strike a familiar refrain: Would-be competitors say Canadians will suffer if the CRTC doesn’t mandate speed matching and access to higher-speed local access facilities for them, while incumbent telcos tell the Commission that doing so will threaten future network investments.Telcos were already required under CRTC regulations to provide speed matching (also referred to as service parity) to competitors over both legacy copper facilities as well as their faster fibre, or next-generation networks (NGNs). But the implementation of the rule was put on hold following appeals to the Governor-in-Council (GIC)...