Report urges ‘policy reset’ for Canada’s telecom sector to help operators invest

TORONTO — A new report says the focus of Canada’s telecommunications policy should shift from lowering consumer prices to creating better conditions for companies to invest in their networks at a time when traditional revenues are plateauing and capital costs are expected to rise.

The paper from U.K.-based Global System for Mobile Communications Association calls for a “policy reset” that prioritizes affordable and predictable spectrum pricing, support for 5G and AI infrastructure such as data centres, and improved regulatory certainty.

It also recommends continued public-private funding to bolster rural and Indigenous connectivity.

“Canada is reaching an inflection point in terms of telecoms policy,” said Niall Magennis, senior policy director for the association, which represents more than 1,000 mobile operators and related businesses across the world.

“We have to remember that mobile networks play a key role in the economy.”

The report said mobile technologies and services generated 5.4 per cent of Canada’s GDP last year, or roughly US$120 billion of economic value — a figure expected to rise to US$170 billion by 2030, thanks to growing adoption of technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things and AI.

But Magennis said much of Canada’s telecommunications policy was crafted in the early 2000s. While some elements were appropriate for decades in a high revenue growth environment, especially as elevated immigration levels brought new customers to Canada, the framework has grown outdated in more recent years.

The report pointed to Canada’s immigration slowdown, as telecom operators are now attracting fewer new subscribers and seeing their mobile revenues flatten, despite the rising cost of spectrum licences.

“Now the sector is experiencing much more of a squeeze,” said Magennis during a presentation Tuesday in Toronto.

Carriers are facing other challenges too. While new cellphone plans have become more affordable for consumers — Magennis noted prices have fallen around 25 per cent over the past two years — telecoms are dealing with cost pressures such as the need to fund the next wave of 5G technology, improve network resiliency, and meet obligations around cybersecurity.

Magennis said some operators have also waded into AI, building their own data centres and compute facilities at significant costs.

Without a policy shift, he warned that network quality and innovation could gradually weaken.

“We need to be mindful that certain policies have effects on investments,” he said.

In recent years, the CRTC has introduced various measures aimed at boosting cellphone and internet competition in Canada, empowering consumers, and lowering costs.

The regulator has defended those moves while also acknowledging concerns from carriers, some of whom have announced sizable cuts to their capital investment plans in response to the framework.

Speaking at an industry conference this past May, CRTC vice-chairperson Adam Scott said the commission is trying to balance multiple priorities, including “affordable prices alongside investment in high-quality networks and broad network coverage.”

“I … see intense competition putting pressure on top-line revenues and making investment cases more challenging. I see population growth slowing and putting further downward pressure on revenue growth,” said Scott at the time.

“The balance is the hard part. Overall, I see a better balance than we’ve had in a long time, but those linkages are real.”

Magennis, who planned to present his research to the CRTC and Innovation Science and Economic Development Canada this week, said he agrees on the need to find an equilibrium between those competing priorities.

“I don’t think it’s one or the other,” he said.

“It’s about finding that balance, finding that right level between maybe some shorter-term concerns and then the longer-term view of ‘What does Canada need?’ An element that needs to be factored into that long-term debate is the need to invest in networks, to be ready for not just 5G now, but … future network technologies.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 20, 2026.

Sammy Hudes, The Canadian Press