The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday, Aug. 7, edition that starting in the 1970s the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission required major companies like Bell to allow access to their networks for new entrants in an effort to foster competition. The Globe's guest columnist Michael Geist writes that the sector now finds itself in a new regulatory battle, this time over access to the "last mile" Internet fibre connections. The principles remain largely the same, but the players have changed. In an unlikely turn of events, it is Telus, one of the Big Three, that wants to use the system to gain entry into the Ontario and Quebec markets, where it is not a significant provider of broadband Internet services. The CRTC ruled in 2023 that competitors should have access to the Big Three fibre networks. That decision has sparked vocal opposition from Bell, Rogers and mid-sized regional providers such as Cogeco and Eastlink (who envisioned being the prime beneficiaries of the regulatory policy). The ruling is currently subject to both a court challenge and petitions to the federal cabinet to exclude the Big Three providers from being beneficiaries of the policy.