\tBell Canada blamed a recent wholesale rate cut as it announced plans to reduce the scope of its rural broadband expansion by 20 per cent.<\/p>\n
The company slashed approximately 200,000 homes from its plan to offer fixed wireless access (FWA) home internet to customers in hard-to-reach locations across the country, lowering its ultimate coverage goal from 1.2 million households to 1 million.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Canadian regulators lowered the wholesale rates operators can charge third-party resellers for access to their networks. The revised rates are between 3 per cent and 77 per cent lower than interim rates set in 2016.<\/p>\n
Bell Canada said the move would cost it more than $100 million, primarily from retroactive payments to resellers to adjust for the lower rates.<\/p>\n
In a statement, Bell Canada COO Mirko Bibic argued the change amounted to a transfer of capital from operators to \u201cwholesale retailers that invest little to nothing\u201d in network buildouts.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cPutting this kind of unexpected and retroactive tax on capital investment is not the way to ensure the continued development of Canada’s internet infrastructure.”<\/p>\n
Fellow Canadian operator Rogers Communications similarly said it expected to book a $140 million charge, adding the rate change would \u201ccertainly impact Rogers’ future network investments\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bell Canada blamed a recent wholesale rate cut as it announced plans to reduce the …<\/p>\n
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