By Ahmad Hathout
Telecom services retailer Glentel hired external counsel who advised it that Rogers’s Mastercard offering in its over 200 stores and kiosks may be offside of its distribution agreement because the card is not a “service,” according to new Ontario Superior Court documents.
The advice was then used to notify Rogers on Thanksgiving Day that the retailer — owned equally by Rogers and Bell — would cease carrying the credit card, which is offered only with the cable giant’s telecom services. Glentel said it hired its own counsel after Bell alleged the bundle would be offside of their distribution agreement.
Rogers swiftly challenged the decision by the retailer, winning a court injunction that will keep the Mastercard bundle in stores like WirelessWave and Tbooth Wireless until a decision is made on the merits of the case. Rogers had said in its October 15 complaint that the status quo must be maintained, lest it be unfairly disadvantaged by missing out on revenue opportunities from the Black Friday, Christmas and Boxing Week events, during which it said Bell would freely be able to push its Virgin Plus benefits program in the stores.
Bell said it will not speak publicly about ongoing legal matters, and Cartt has not seen a response from Bell in the court filings. But we do know the opinion of Glentel’s external counsel, which was hired by the neutral party that describes itself in court documents as an innocent “child of parents who cannot agree.”
Ross Nasseri LLP, the litigation firm hired by Glentel, outlined in an email that the central contention involves the word “service” in the distribution agreements, which are nearly identical for Rogers and Bell, according to the record.
The distribution agreements define “service,” according to the counsel, as “any one or more of the wireless telecommunications services and any wire, cable, optical or other similar wireline telecommunications services, including voice, data, television and other content, video transmission, internet and monitoring services, that are now or in the future offered by Carrier or its Subsidiaries under the Carrier Brands, and any ancillary services bundled or included with such services.”
While Rogers says its Mastercard product is as an “ancillary service” bundled with other telecom services, Glentel’s counsel argues that is not the case for two reasons: the “Mastercard is not ‘ancillary’ to the wireless or wireline service in the ordinary, grammatical meaning of the word…” and the “‘Service’ requires the presence of either a wireless or wireline telecommunications service, and the Mastercard, alone, is neither.”
Rogers’s subsidiary Rogers Bank launched the latest version of its Mastercard in September 2023. It provides benefits including device financing, free roaming days, cash back, lower monthly payments on new phones and other perks to drive loyalty and retention.
Rogers claims that Glentel did not oppose the idea when it first proposed a year ago to have the bundle in Glentel locations, which included the creation of marketing materials and the training of 900 staff at the stores. “Glentel was well aware of and actively participated in many of these activities through the spring and summer of 2024,” Rogers said in its complaint. “Training for Glentel staff began in early September and Glentel rolled out the Bundled Card Offering to all 224 locations on September 17, 2024.”
Glentel’s President and CEO Ravi Nookala wrote in an affidavit that he had asked Rogers to confirm that the bundle is onside of the distribution agreement, noting that the retailer would have potentially breached confidentiality rules if it told Bell about it. Only after he received written confirmation from Rogers did Glentel begin offering the credit card bundle in all retail locations, Nookala said.
“Glentel did not – indeed, could not – notify Bell because Glentel is bound by the confidentiality protocol in the Consent Agreement,” Nookala wrote. “It is Glentel’s understanding that the Consent Agreement precludes Glentel from discussing, among other things, pricing and promotions with the other carriers.”
According to Nookala, a Bell rep reached out to Glentel about the issue only after he saw a Rogers Mastercard sign in one of its stores.
