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OTTAWA – The federal cabinet is supporting a CRTC decision that forces Canada’s big Internet providers to share their high-speed infrastructure with smaller carriers at a wholesale cost.

Bell Canada had asked the Liberal government to overrule the regulator’s decision, saying it would discourage innovation.

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But the minister responsible for the telecom industry, Navdeep Bains, said today in a statement that middle-class and low-income families need access to affordable, high-speed Internet.

He said the wholesale broadband ruling helps enable retail competition in the market.

Bell had argued that the regulation could slow innovation by forcing it to stop investing in technology.

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Bell’s appeal followed a July 2015 decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, which ordered Canada’s telecom giants to provide other Internet providers with wholesale access to their fibre optic networks.

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Bains said the CRTC decision balances the industry’s incentive to continue to invest and consumer choice. He said the federal government is encouraged by recent announcements of companies investing in fibre across Canada.