Bell claims Telus blocked it from launching internet in Western Canada

Bell says Telus failed to deliver “functional wholesale fibre service” in Western Canada in a new CRTC filing.

Bell shared an abridged and partially redacted version of the Feb. 11 CRTC filing with MobileSyrup, which details Bell’s issues with Telus and seeks relief, largely in the form of enabling Bell to provide wholesale internet service to people in Alberta and B.C.

In a statement to MobileSyrup, Robert Malcolmson, Bell’s executive vice president and chief legal and regulatory officer, said:

“Bell has asked the CRTC to ensure greater Internet competition in Western Canada. Using the CRTC’s wholesale fibre policy, Bell wants to serve consumers in B.C. and Alberta, two provinces where people already pay more on average for broadband. Unfortunately, Telus has prevented competition in Western Canada by failing to deliver a functional wholesale fibre service.”

Telus did not respond to MobileSyrup’s request for comment prior to publication.

Update Feb. 12, 2026, at 4:23 p.m. ET: Bell isn’t the only provider struggling with Telus’ wholesale system. After this story was published, Andy Kaplan-Myrth, TekSavvy’s VP of regulatory and carrier affairs, told MobileSyrup that it was forced to stop selling fibre services on Telus’ network in November “for similar reasons to those Bell raises now.”

“The issues Bell raises are not unique to Bell, or between Bell and TELUS. They have also been preventing real competitors like TekSavvy from competing in Western Canada, despite the CRTC’s clear expectation that their 2024 fibre decision would take effect and lead to increased choice for consumers in February 2025,” said Kaplan-Myrth.

Update Feb. 18, 2026, at 10:16 a.m. ET: Another wireless and internet service provider operating in B.C., called Everyday Computers, also claims Telus is hampering its efforts to offer wholesale services in the province. Everyday filed an intervention with the CRTC backing Bell, saying that Telus “systematically employs administrative friction to degrade the wholesale experience for competitors.”

The original story continues below.

The Feb. 11 filing is the latest in an ongoing spat between Bell and Telus over wholesale fibre internet. As a refresher, the CRTC mandated that incumbent internet service providers (ISPs) open their fibre networks to the wholesale program, allowing other ISPs to provide internet service using the networks.

After the ruling, Telus launched home internet services in Ontario and Quebec using Bell’s fibre network. Bell initially battled against the ruling, but later announced it would offer internet to Canadians in Western Canada using Telus’ fibre network.

However, Bell and Telus haven’t exactly played nicely together. In the months since, we’ve seen the carriers repeatedly butt heads over the wholesale system in their respective regions. In July, the carriers sued each other over television services. Last month, Telus accused Bell of degrading its ability to sign up new fibre customers in Ontario and Quebec.

Bell denied the accusation and instead claimed Telus was failing to offer a workable wholesale activation process, to which Telus said that if Bell was having issues, it could bring an application before the CRTC. Well, Bell has done just that.

Telus blocked Bell’s expansion in Western Canada

On the Feb 11. filing, Bell claims Telus has blocked it from launching service in Western Canada “for months” through a “variety of deliberate actions.” Specifically, Bell accused Telus of failing to provide a “workable” system to process fibre installation orders and failing to provide access to 1.5Gbps service. Bell says this forced it to delay plans to offer wholesale fibre internet to consumers in Western Canada.

Regarding the ordering system, Bell says that Telus implemented a manual ordering system as a temporary measure while it worked on an automated ordering system. Telus had initially told the CRTC it could implement the automated system by June 2025, but Bell claims Telus failed to do so and that the company’s ordering process “remains largely, if not entirely, manual.”

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

Moreover, Bell says in its filing that in October 2025, when it launched internet service in Western Canada using Telus’ network, Telus “made a calculated decision to install services ordered by Bell in a manner that did not deliver the 1.5Gbps speeds it was required to deliver.”

Bell says that when it discovered what Telus was doing, Telus claimed it could not install 1.5Gbps service until 2026. However, Bell says when it reciprocated by suspending Telus’ ability to install 1.5Gbps speeds from Bell, “Telus suddenly discovered that it could in fact deliver 1.5Gbps speeds.”

“This was a deliberate and flagrant attempt by Telus to block implementation of the Commission’s wholesale HSA framework in Alberta and British Columbia, which Telus only remedied in the face of commercial consequences,” Bell wrote in the filing.

Elsewhere, Bell claims Telus refused to allow it to book installation appointments for existing Telus customers who hadn’t cancelled their Telus service. Bell describes this as Telus granting itself “undue preference.”

Bell accuses Telus of ‘anti-competitive conduct’

Last month, when Telus accused Bell of hindering its ability to sell internet in Ontario and Quebec, MobileSyrup learned that the core of the issue was related to a system Telus used to provide fibre services to customers. Telus accused Bell of intentionally shutting down the system, while Bell claimed it continued to offer all necessary functionality during a brief technical issue.

Bell’s Feb. 11 CRTC filing sheds some more light on that issue, noting that it updated its ordering process for Telus “to more closely reflect the ordering processes that Telus was providing to its own wholesale customers” while also remaining “vastly superior to those provided by Telus.” As evidence that the system remained workable, Bell claims Telus was able to place as many orders after the change as it was before.

In another section of the filing, Bell points out that Telus was able to successfully place orders during the three weeks when Bell’s system supposedly had issues. While the specific numbers are redacted, Bell notes that on the day it implemented the update, “Telus successfully placed almost as many new orders… as Bell had been able to successfully install in total on Telus’ network as of that date.”

Finally, Bell outlines in the filing that Telus demands certain “essential” functionality in the wholesale ordering system. However, Bell claims that Telus fails to provide that same functionality in its own ordering system.

Bell requested urgent, expedited relief from the CRTC, which includes the commission issuing an interim order to force Telus to provide necessary functionality for it to be able to offer wholesale internet to customers in Western Canada. Bell also framed it as a competition issue, claiming that Telus is preventing internet competition in Western Canada.