The Supreme Court of Canada held in Telus Communications Inc. v. Federation of Canadian Municipalities, 2025 SCC 15 that the term "transmission line" in the Telecommunications Act, S.C. 1993, c. 38, is restricted to physical wireline infrastructure, rejecting a position advanced by wireless telecommunication carriers that the statutory language extends to small cell antennas used in 5G wireless technology. In rejecting the carriers' argument that "transmission line" captures small cell antennas, the Supreme Court examined and applied the statutory interpretation principle of dynamic interpretation and the concept of technological neutrality, but found that neither supported the carriers' argument that Parliament intended the term "transmission line" to extend to new wireless technologies. At issue was whether the carriers could employ a CRTC regime for entering and breaking up public property to construct, maintain or operate a telecommunications "transmission line". Finding that Parliament intended only for the access regime to apply to wireline technology, carriers seeking to place antennas on public property must operate outside the CRTC access regime and negotiate access with the government owner of the property.
Background
The rollout of 5G cellular technology across Canada has multiplied the number of antennas that carriers must install on physical infrastructure because 5G technology employs a larger number of "small cell" antennas...
