Bell Canada says it needs to throttle peer-to-peer applications because of congestion on its network.

The CRTC has denied an appeal from a group of internet providers to force Bell Canada to stop its internet traffic management, otherwise known as throttling.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission on Thursday threw out a "review and vary" request from the Canadian Association of Internet Providers, a group of smaller companies that rents portions of Bell's network, on a decision the regulator made last year.

In its previous decision, the CRTC found that Bell was within its right to extend the throttling — which it applies to customers using peer-to-peer software — to its wholesale companies. Bell said it needed to throttle because peer-to-peer traffic was causing congestion on its network. The smaller ISPs appealed to the CRTC and said Bell had not proven that congestion.

The CRTC's decision on Thursday reaffirmed its earlier order.

"The commission determines that the applications by CAIP et al. … do not raise substantial doubt about the correctness of the determination in [last year's decision]," it said. "The commission also determines that the applications do not raise substantial doubt about the correctness of [the previous decision] with respect to the completeness of the record used to make that decision or to the fettering of the commission's discretion."