Canada’s telecommunications regulator has upheld for now its decision allowing the country’s largest providers to offer wholesale access to rivals’ networks outside their core serving regions.

But the CRTC said its announcement on Monday comes as it continues to assess long-term concerns about investment and competition, with a final decision still to be made.

The federal government had asked the commission to reconsider a portion of recently established rules surrounding wholesale fibre services, as Ottawa said it was concerned about the viability of smaller internet service providers to act as alternatives to the big players.

The CRTC opened a consultation into the matter in November.

A series of previous CRTC decisions paved the way for smaller internet providers to sell their services through fibre networks owned by companies such as Telus Corp. and BCE Inc.

In May of last year, the regulator began requiring Bell and Telus to give competitors — including both big and small companies — access to their fibre-to-the-home networks, in exchange for a fee. While those rules initially applied only in Ontario and Quebec, the CRTC then announced in August they would be extended to networks owned by telephone companies countrywide.

On Monday, the CRTC said consumers benefited from increased choice and “more intense competition” between providers when the initial rules took effect in Ontario and Quebec.

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