I think Novus, Fibrestream and friends are good examples that support the idea that the market is healthy and oligopolies don't have the ability to use their po

I think Novus, Fibrestream and friends are good examples that support the idea that the market is healthy and oligopolies don't have the ability to use their position to choke out smaller players. I'd wager that Canada is still largely a wild west when it comes to physical copper coverage. Meaning big players do project long term profit from rural markets and actively invest in them, but that the projections aren't sustainable below some price threshold, hence butting heads with CRTC to make the math work out. As for the notion that country bumpkins ought to be satisfied with inconvenience, I'm not sure how to respond other than more and more they expect modern things to be available to them. A customer is never in their right mind going to shoulder a 100k upfront cost to lay fiber to a town, so if someone wants to make the cost benefit analysis, it's most likely going to be one of the big players, IMHO