Bell has filed a petition with the Federal government to rescind the CRTC's ability to regulate access to it's internet fiber network. Right now the CRTC mandates that ISPs offer access to their networks at regulated wholesale prices in order to given new entrants and smaller regional competitors a fighting chance and to keep prices down for Canadians. Bell is trying to go around the CRTC and challenge their authority to regulate this directly to the Liberal government.
http://business.financialpost.com/fp...reline-network
This decision will directly impact prices as, if Bell has it's way, it would kill regional smaller competitors like TekSavvy who do not have their own network. These providers provide a direct check against the Rogers, Bell, Shaw and Telus from raising their prices too much over cost. People should be up in arms about this. Toronto and Ottawa's mayors has signed a filing supporting Bell after extensive lobbying. Incidentally Ontario is in the middle of an internet price war caused directly by these smaller competitors. This has lead to prices substantially lower than in Calgary. (i.e. $80/mo vs $130/mo for the equivalent package speeds on Rogers vs. Shaw) Nenshi has pushed heavily against Bell's petition.
This will be a test of the Liberal government to see who they really support. Is the Liberal government in the pocket of corporate powers or do they really intent to serve the public. Nenshi though does reveal there is a lot of dark fiber in Calgary and reiterated support for an eventual open wholesale fiber network that will be licensed for use to smaller ISPs based on the Swedish model.
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Stokab does not compete with the telecommunications services sector, instead it remains at the lowest level in the value chain: the dark fibre level. This has led to virtually all operators in Stockholm and Sweden using the Stokab network. It is cheaper to license dark fibre than having to build an entire privately owned network and with hundreds of operators and companies using the same infrastructure, this is a cost effective model. The biggest cost is represented by digging and installation; therefore Stokab has established coordination with other utilities (such as sewage and electricity), the underground public transport authority, and other infrastructure players to facilitate the installation of fibre Facilities
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https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gs...Submission.pdf
EDIT: Petition has been formed against Bell's attempt to kill competition and raise your prices.
https://act.openmedia.org/emergency