The federal government has released its first Telecom Competition Roadmap, a plan to bring more competition and lower prices to phone and internet service. Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said it “truly puts Canadians first.”

What the government promises

The official release groups the plan into three goals:

  • More choice: make it easier for competitors to use existing networks and build their own, and break down the regional barriers that keep smaller providers in their home markets.
  • Better prices: highlight competitive offers, make shopping around and switching easier, and get rid of unnecessary fees.
  • Better networks: help companies build fibre, test new technology, and improve service in northern, rural and Indigenous communities.

Coming next, it says: a “dig once” approach so fibre gets laid alongside big infrastructure projects, new spectrum rules, less red tape, and more consumer protections through the CRTC.

The details

iPhone in Canada reports that the roadmap lists 18 actions for 2026 and 2027, including:

  • releasing millimetre-wave spectrum over three years
  • reviewing tower rules, with one proposal cutting the time municipalities get to respond to a new tower from 120 days to 45
  • publishing benchmarks to help smaller carriers negotiate the wholesale rates they pay the big networks
  • merging the CRTC’s separate wireless and internet codes into a single consumer code, with internet plan transparency rules due in March 2027

No targets

The release doesn’t set deadlines or price goals. Instead, Ottawa says it will track prices, switching, network speeds, coverage and complaints. It points to progress so far: it says wireless prices are down 49% from 2019, and a 60 GB plan that cost 05 in 2022 now sells for 0 to 0.

Not everyone agrees on the direction of consumer rules. Telus has asked the CRTC to make the new code override provincial consumer laws and to remove the complaints commissioner from enforcing it, iPhone in Canada notes. Rogers, Bell and Telus have also asked the CRTC to drop several consumer protections.

Why it matters: The roadmap is a to-do list, not a price cut. Most of what changes your bill will come through CRTC decisions and spectrum rules over the next year, and the carriers are pushing back on several of them. The government says it will revise its approach if results fall short; with no targets, it will be up to the public numbers to show whether they did.