If you'd like to start an ISP in Canada you'll probably need to apply for two licenses:

1. A Basic International Telecommunications Services (BITS) license

2. A "Facilities-Based" or "Non-Facilities-Based" provider license

According to the CRTC: "[a]ll Facilities-Based Providers and those Non-Facilities Based Providers that carry telecommunications traffic internationally must obtain a BITS licence."

The tricky question is whether you're facilities or non-facilities-based. You would expect this would be defined in the Telecommunications Act and the CRTC would provide an explanation. Instead there's a fuzzy line that was enacted in 1993 and hasn't been remedied since.

The fuzzy line results from the use of the undefined term "network termination points". According to Canadian Telecommunications Law and Regulation, the reason for this lack of definition is that Parliament didn't want to legislate according to the technology of 1993. Unfortunately this term has never been revisited by Parliament, judicially considered or defined by the CRTC. The result is that it's unclear how far along the fibre line an ISP needs to be in order to not count as facilities-based.

Telecommunications Act, s. 2(1): (with combined definitions)

telecommunications facility means any facility, apparatus or other thing that is used or is capable of being used for telecommunications or for any operation directly connected with telecommunications, and includes [any wire, cable, radio, optical or other electromagnetic system, or any similar technical system, for the transmission of [signs, signals, writing, images, sounds or intelligence of any nature] between network termination points, but does not include any exempt transmission apparatus].