The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that the telecom regulator has directed the country's large telephone companies to provide independent competitors "workable" access to their fibre networks in Ontario and Quebec within six months. The Globe's Irene Galea writes that in its decision announced Monday, the CRTC set interim rates for fibre Internet, giving independent telecom providers in Ontario and Quebec cheaper access to Bell and Telus's networks on a temporary and expedited basis. In response to the CRTC directive, Bell said that it would reduce planned network investment by more than $1-billion in 2024-25, including a minimum of $500-million to $600-million next year. Fibre-to-the-home rates are the prices that independent, or wholesale, Internet service providers (ISPs) must pay to the big telcos to access fibre networks. Internet competition has declined most significantly in Ontario and Quebec, with the number of subscribers served by independent wholesale competitors dropping by 47 per cent between the end of 2018 and 2022, the CRTC found. "Today's decision should be a lifeline for small ISPs, but it comes so late, most have already sunk," said Matt Hatfield at consumer advocate Open Media.