The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that Bell Canada and rival Telus have reached an agreement over the latest impasse in network sharing, a detente in what has been a bumpy first year of regulator-imposed access to competitors' fibre Internet. The Globe's Irene Galea writes that Bell and Telus agreed to withdraw complaints to the CRTC, in which each claimed the other was deliberately blocking access to their networks. The regulatory battles reflect the long-standing hurdles faced by smaller competitors, which have seen their market share halved in recent years, independent executives say. On Monday, Bell and Telus asked to withdraw their applications before the CRTC, and the regulator closed the case Friday morning. Bell said it plans to commence its expansion into Telus's Western Canadian networks shortly. The wholesale framework requires Bell and Telus to allow other telecom companies, including each other, to offer Internet plans using their fibre optic networks. It also sets the fees they are required to pay for that access. The intent of the framework is to improve competition by increasing the number of service providers in any given market. Telus had advocated for the network-sharing policy.