Bell claims Telus blocked it from launching web in Western Canada

Bell says Telus didn’t ship “useful wholesale fibre service” in Western Canada in a brand new CRTC submitting.

Bell shared an abridged and partially redacted model of the Feb. 11 CRTC submitting with MobileSyrup, which particulars Bell’s points with Telus and seeks reduction, largely within the type of enabling Bell to offer wholesale web service to folks in Alberta and B.C.

In a press release to MobileSyrup, Robert Malcolmson, Bell’s government vp and chief authorized and regulatory officer, stated:

“Bell has requested the CRTC to make sure larger Web competitors in Western Canada. Utilizing the CRTC’s wholesale fibre coverage, Bell desires to serve shoppers in B.C. and Alberta, two provinces the place folks already pay extra on common for broadband. Sadly, Telus has prevented competitors in Western Canada by failing to ship a useful wholesale fibre service.”

Telus didn’t reply to MobileSyrup’s request for remark previous to publication.

Replace Feb. 12, 2026, at 4:23 p.m. ET: Bell isn’t the one supplier fighting Telus’ wholesale system. After this story was printed, Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s VP of regulatory and service affairs, advised MobileSyrup that it was pressured to cease promoting fibre providers on Telus’ community in November “for related causes to these Bell raises now.”

“The problems Bell raises should not distinctive to Bell, or between Bell and TELUS. They’ve additionally been stopping actual rivals like TekSavvy from competing in Western Canada, regardless of the CRTC’s clear expectation that their 2024 fibre determination would take impact and result in elevated alternative for shoppers in February 2025,” stated Kaplan-Myrth.

The unique story continues under.

The Feb. 11 submitting is the newest in an ongoing spat between Bell and Telus over wholesale fibre web. As a refresher, the CRTC mandated that incumbent web service suppliers (ISPs) open their fibre networks to the wholesale program, permitting different ISPs to offer web service utilizing the networks.

After the ruling, Telus launched dwelling web providers in Ontario and Quebec utilizing Bell’s fibre community. Bell initially battled in opposition to the ruling, however later introduced it will provide web to Canadians in Western Canada utilizing Telus’ fibre community.

Nevertheless, Bell and Telus haven’t precisely performed properly collectively. Within the months since, we’ve seen the carriers repeatedly butt heads over the wholesale system of their respective areas. In July, the carriers sued one another over tv providers. Final month, Telus accused Bell of degrading its capability to enroll new fibre clients in Ontario and Quebec.

Bell denied the accusation and as a substitute claimed Telus was failing to supply a workable wholesale activation course of, to which Telus stated that if Bell was having points, it might convey an utility earlier than the CRTC. Nicely, Bell has achieved simply that.

Telus blocked Bell’s enlargement in Western Canada

On the Feb 11. submitting, Bell claims Telus has blocked it from launching service in Western Canada “for months” via a “number of deliberate actions.” Particularly, Bell accused Telus of failing to offer a “workable” system to course of fibre set up orders and failing to offer entry to 1.5Gbps service. Bell says this pressured it to delay plans to supply wholesale fibre web to shoppers in Western Canada.

Concerning the ordering system, Bell says that Telus carried out a handbook ordering system as a short lived measure whereas it labored on an automatic ordering system. Telus had initially advised the CRTC it might implement the automated system by June 2025, however Bell claims Telus failed to take action and that the corporate’s ordering course of “stays largely, if not completely, handbook.”

Bell Canada Feb. 11, 2026, CRTC submitting. by jon

Furthermore, Bell says in its submitting that in October 2025, when it launched web service in Western Canada utilizing Telus’ community, Telus “made a calculated determination to put in providers ordered by Bell in a way that didn’t ship the 1.5Gbps speeds it was required to ship.”

Bell says that when it found what Telus was doing, Telus claimed it couldn’t set up 1.5Gbps service till 2026. Nevertheless, Bell says when it reciprocated by suspending Telus’ capability to put in 1.5Gbps speeds from Bell, “Telus immediately found that it might in actual fact ship 1.5Gbps speeds.”

“This was a deliberate and flagrant try by Telus to dam implementation of the Fee’s wholesale HSA framework in Alberta and British Columbia, which Telus solely remedied within the face of business penalties,” Bell wrote within the submitting.

Elsewhere, Bell claims Telus refused to permit it to ebook set up appointments for current Telus clients who hadn’t cancelled their Telus service. Bell describes this as Telus granting itself “undue choice.”

Bell accuses Telus of ‘anti-competitive conduct’

Final month, when Telus accused Bell of hindering its capability to promote web in Ontario and Quebec, MobileSyrup discovered that the core of the problem was associated to a system Telus used to offer fibre providers to clients. Telus accused Bell of deliberately shutting down the system, whereas Bell claimed it continued to supply all essential performance throughout a quick technical subject.

Bell’s Feb. 11 CRTC submitting sheds some extra gentle on that subject, noting that it up to date its ordering course of for Telus “to extra intently mirror the ordering processes that Telus was offering to its personal wholesale clients” whereas additionally remaining “vastly superior to these offered by Telus.” As proof that the system remained workable, Bell claims Telus was capable of place as many orders after the change because it was earlier than.

In one other part of the submitting, Bell factors out that Telus was capable of efficiently place orders throughout the three weeks when Bell’s system supposedly had points. Whereas the particular numbers are redacted, Bell notes that on the day it carried out the replace, “Telus efficiently positioned nearly as many new orders… as Bell had been capable of efficiently set up in complete on Telus’ community as of that date.”

Lastly, Bell outlines within the submitting that Telus calls for sure “important” performance within the wholesale ordering system. Nevertheless, Bell claims that Telus fails to offer that very same performance in its personal ordering system.

Bell requested pressing, expedited reduction from the CRTC, which incorporates the fee issuing an interim order to power Telus to offer essential performance for it to have the ability to provide wholesale web to clients in Western Canada. Bell additionally framed it as a contest subject, claiming that Telus is stopping web competitors in Western Canada.