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2025 was an active year in Canadian telecommunications regulation. Key developments in the year included the introduction and subsequent retraction of lawful access legislation, the reintroduction of cybersecurity legislation, significant judicial decisions on the jurisdiction of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ("CRTC" or "Commission") and government liability in tort, as well as regulatory decisions on direct-to-cell, wholesale broadband, broadband subsidy requirements and outage reporting. Decisions remain pending in a number of CRTC proceedings related to retail consumer wireless and Internet service marketing obligations.
Bill C-2 – Strong Borders Act: A Short-lived Proposal to Mandate Lawful Access Capabilities
On June 3, 2025, the Government tabled Bill C‑2, the Strong Borders Act, an omnibus bill addressing national security, border control, and information‑sharing measures. Bill C-2 included Parts 14 and 15, which address "lawful access." Part 14 amends the Criminal Code and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service Act to expand authority for data‑production orders, exigent‑circumstance disclosures, and tracking‑data requests. These amendments would expand the scope of warrantless access to subscriber information in the possession of "any person who provides services to the public." Part 15 introduces the Supporting Authorized Access to Information Act (SAAIA), which would establish a legal framework requiring telecommunications and other electronic service providers ("ESPs") to facilitate lawful‑access requests. Under SAAIA, all ESPs would be subject to a general obligation to provide reasonable assistance to authorized persons, while "core" providers designated by the Governor in Council would face additional requirements to develop and maintain operational and technical capabilities to respond to lawful‑access requests.
Bill C‑2 faced significant opposition from civil‑liberties groups, privacy advocates, and others, who raised concerns about the breadth of the lawful‑access provisions and their potential conflict with Charter rights and Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence on subscriber information. Critics noted that Bill C‑2's definition of "electronic service provider" was broader than comparable legislation in other Five Eyes jurisdictions. In response, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree introduced Bill C‑12, the Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act, without Parts 14 and 15 containing the lawful‑access provisions, including the proposed SAAIA. Bill C‑12 retained provisions relating to customs, controlled substances, immigration, money laundering, and other border‑security measures, and has been progressing through Parliament. The Government has undertaken targeted consultations with opposition parties, experts, and industry on potential amendments to reintroduce refined lawful‑access measures originally proposed in Bill C‑2.
Bill C-8 – Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act: Re-tabled in Parliament
On June 18, 2025, the Government tabled Bill C‑8, An Act respecting cyber security, amending the Telecommunications Act and making consequential amendments to other Acts. Bill C‑8 represents the reintroduction of cybersecurity measures originally proposed in Bill C‑26 (tabled in June 2022), which died with the prorogation of the previous Parliament. Part 1 of Bill C‑8 amends the Telecommunications Act to add the promotion of the security of the Canadian telecommunications system to the objectives of Canada's telecommunications policy. It also authorizes the Governor in Council and the Minister of Industry to direct telecommunications service providers to take any action necessary to secure the Canadian telecommunications system, including prohibiting the use of products or services supplied by specified vendors. Part 2 enacts the Critical Cyber Systems Protection Act (CCSPA), which would establish a framework for protecting critical cyber systems vital to national security or public safety in federally regulated sectors, including telecommunications, energy, finance, and transportation. On October 3, 2025, Bill C-8 was referred to the House Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security for study. The Committee began its clause-by-clause review of Bill C-8 on February 3, 2026.
The Supreme Court of Canada Endorses a Narrow Definition of "Transmission Line"
In TELUS Communications Inc. v FCM et al., 2025 SCC 15, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed telecommunications carrier arguments that the term "transmission line" should be interpreted to include wireless infrastructure for the purposes of the framework established in the Telecommunications Act for carrier access to highways and other public places. That framework provides carriers with a qualified right of access to highways and other public places to construct, maintain and operate their "transmission lines", subject to the consent of the applicable public authority. If a carrier and public authority cannot agree on terms for the construction, maintenance and operation of transmission lines, then either the carrier or the public authority may request the Commission to set the terms of access in the public interest. The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada means that this regime does not encompass wireless transmission infrastructure – creating a material gap in the statutory framework in Canada for effective and efficient deployment of modern wireless telecommunications networks.
Ontario Court Finds Government Liability in Tort for Changes in Spectrum Licence Transfer Policy
The Ontario Superior Court issued its decision in Quadrangle v Attorney General of Canada, 2025 ONSC 4526 in August, 2025. The Court ordered the Canadian government to pay millions of dollars of damages to the investors in the former wireless carrier, Mobilicity, due to government changes in the transferability of "new entrant" spectrum licences that Mobilicity had purchased in a 2008 spectrum auction. Prior to the auction, the government specified that these new entrant spectrum licences were not transferable to incumbent carriers for five years following grant, after which the spectrum could be transferred without restriction. Shortly before the end of the 5-year period, the government introduced a new spectrum transfer policy that restricted transfer of the "new entrant" spectrum licences acquired by Mobilicity (and others) to incumbent carriers based on a spectrum concentration test. The investors argued that this change, along with other government conduct, significantly reduced the value of the spectrum and forced Mobilicity to sell its licences at a substantially reduced price. The Court agreed, holding that the Government had a duty of care to the plaintiffs that was breached by the revisions to the spectrum licence transfer requirements. Notably, the Court rejected the argument that policy reasons militated against finding a duty of care, holding that the government had intentionally and expressly represented to the plaintiffs that the licences would be freely transferable after 5 years if an exit strategy was required. The decision has been appealed.
ISED Applies its Mobile-satellite Service Licensing Framework to Direct-to-cell Services
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) issued its decision on the licensing framework for direct-to-cell services – referred to as "supplemental mobile coverage by satellite (or "SMCS") by ISED – in February 2025. The Decision applies ISED's framework for the licensing of mobile satellite services to SMCS with limited additional requirements and conditions largely to reflect unique issues arising from the use of licensed terrestrial mobile frequencies. Foreign or Canadian-licensed satellites will be authorized to provide service in certain terrestrial wireless frequencies, provided the satellite operator has a non-exclusive agreement with the terrestrial licence holder. The terrestrial licence holder must obtain a generic earth station licence for its end-user devices. ISED decided not to impose a mandatory roaming requirement but may revisit this determination in the future.
The CRTC Finds that a New Far North Broadband Subsidy Is Required
In Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2025-9, Telecommunications in the Far North, the CRTC determined that all households in the Far North should receive a monthly subsidy for Internet service. The Commission has yet to determine the amount of the subsidy, which will be available regardless of the Internet service provider chosen by the household. The subsidy will be funded through a tax on the telecommunications service revenues of service providers that exceed an annual Canadian telecommunications revenue threshold. The CRTC also directed the incumbent telephone company to provide automatic bill credits to consumers and businesses when their Internet service is not available for 24 hours or more.
The CRTC Upholds its Wholesale Highspeed Access Framework Decision
The CRTC rejected requests to vary its wholesale high-speed access framework, including its decision that regulated telephone and cable companies are permitted to use tariffed high-speed access services outside of their incumbent serving areas. The regime requires the largest incumbent telephone and cable companies to provide tariffed access to their fibre-to-the-premise and hybrid fibre coax access infrastructure, respectively, at tariffed rates. Incumbents are barred from using tariffed services in their incumbent serving areas, but not elsewhere. Significantly, the Commission has yet to finalize the wholesale rates for the tariffed services. Judicial review and appeal proceedings in respect of the regime are ongoing.
The CRTC Announces New Mandatory Major Outage Reporting Requirements
The Commission issued a decision in September 2025 requiring all telecommunications service providers to report major service outages. Major service outages are defined as a complete loss of any primary service, such as Internet access, cellphone services, data services, and telephone services (landline and VoIP): (i) affecting 600,000 user-minutes or more or resulting in a community isolation event and (ii) exceeding a minimum duration of 30 minutes. Different thresholds apply to emergency service outages (9-1-1 services, wireless public alerting and TTY/IP relay services).
Implementation of the requirements has been stayed, pending consideration of a request by a number of carriers to review and vary the requirements. As a result, interim major outage reporting obligations for carriers remain in place.
Looking Forward to 2026
Decisions are pending on four separate proceedings relating to requirements for marketing of retail wireless and Internet services, including: (i) a mandatory Internet label requirement; (ii) mandatory self-service mechanisms to modify or cancel wireless and Internet services; (iii) new prohibitions on fees to activate, modify or cancel wireless and Internet services; and (iv) new notification requirements relating to termination of wireless and Internet service contracts and time-limited discounts and to international roaming. Decisions on these proceedings are currently expected in the first half of 2026.
The Commission is also expected to release decisions establishing final tariffed wholesale broadband rates and implementing the Far North broadband subsidy, as well as other subsidy requirements, and is consulting on additional network resilience requirements (including outage rebates).
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