The Canadian telecom industry is rumbling full-throttle towards a deregulated environment. While the carriers and cablecos want the freedom to operate, market and price how they want, the federal government still wants to encourage competition and protect the interests of consumers. The problem, however, is it's very difficult to have it both ways. You can't set the carriers and cablecos free and then expect them to play nice with rivals who want wholesale network access to offer competitive services. Why should Bell Canada, for example, provide sell access to MTS Allstream in Toronto so Allstream can do business with a large corporate customer? It makes no strategic sense. But if this becomes the new competitive landscape, it means a carrier or cablecos that wants to service a particular market may have to build their own facilities - a costly and, arguably, inefficient market strategy. Of course, the carriers and cablecos will argue they built their networks so why should they share their facilities. But this approach doesn't appear to jibe with the federal government's desire for a healthy competitive landscape. As much as everyone is excited about deregulation, there will have to be regulated exceptions, and it appears wholesale network access may have to be one of them if the federal government is really intent on competition. Perhaps MTS Allstream CEO Pierre Blouin (above left) s the voice of reason when he calls for wholesale access at reasonable prices.