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In a quarterly report, BCE itself told investors that: “It is not possible at this time to assess the financial impact.”

The Canadian Consortium of Network Operators Inc., a group of 34 Internet service providers that offer an alternative to the big players, challenges Bell’s claim that by mandating access to fibre lines that connect to homes is a form of “expropriation” and “unfairly changing the rules, handing over” a key for anyone to use the company’s coveted and priciest assets. These rival ISPs call it “incorrect, misleading and … premature.”

According to data compiled by OECD last December, the penetration rate of fibre-optic cables that travel to the home is just 4.7 per cent of Canadian broadband subscriptions, which ranked 22nd out of 32 countries. In contrast, the U.S. has a fibre penetration rate of 8.7 per cent. Japan finished in top spot at 72.7 per cent.

Bell filed its petition on Oct. 21, 90 days after the decision was posted and the day after the federal election.

“With the Harper government, Bell knew they would have been laughed out of Ottawa,” George Burger, an advisor to upstart and Internet reseller VMedia Inc., which is opposed to Bell’s petition, said in a telephone interview. “Here, you have a new government with a lot of important priorities and the question is are they going to be able to dedicate the resources to bring themselves up to speed. If they do, they’ll also deny this.”

On Monday, BCE spokesman Mark Langton said forcing providers to open their newest networks to companies that invest little in infrastructure is a strategy that doesn’t work. “Municipalities, chambers of commerce, technology companies and other respondents overwhelming support our petition because they recognize the potential impact of the CRTC’s wholesale decision on Canada’s broadband infrastructure, economic growth and employment,” he said in an email.

As of Dec. 22, over 52,000 Internet users had signed a petition through OpenMedia Engagement Network, an advocate for an open Internet, “asking the Trudeau government to reject Bell’s price-gouging scheme.”

cpellegrini@postmedia.com

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