Thane_Bitter It still seems like a pretty good sweet-heart deal to me. They get five-year exclusivity on new deployments, plus the exorbitant access and CBB rates once access is finally allowed. It's not like the CRTC is anywhere close to imposing reasonable access rates, so "soulless ghoul" indeed.
The way I read the article, it sounds like he's claiming, "we won't install one more metre of fibre until this decision is reversed!". That would be a stupid thing, as it then opens all of the remaining Bell serving areas to anyone else who decides to do it instead. All we need now is for governments to impose fair pole/conduit access, and we'll see if he doesn't change his mind.
To me, it sounds more like the real reason is "We waited to long to deploy, borrowed too much, too late, and now interest rates have risen. Oh, s**t! We're basically at scrap value and investors are getting antsy.".