Quebecor announced Wednesday it has filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau against a partnership agreement between Loblaw Companies Limited and wireless carriers Bell and Rogers, through their joint venture Glentel, that would give them exclusive selling rights at the grocery retailer’s The Mobile Shop locations.
The agreement would shut Quebecor’s Freedom Mobile out of 180 Loblaw-owned grocery stores, the Montreal-based telecom says in a press release.
“The agreement between Loblaw and Glentel cloaks yet another attempt by the dominant players in the telecommunications market to thwart competition,” Pierre Karl Péladeau, president and CEO of Quebecor, said in a statement. “To our knowledge, there is no other oligopoly where two of the three main players are allowed to work hand in hand to exclude competitors from such an important retail channel. This new squeeze by Loblaw, a company currently under investigation by the Competition Bureau for anti-competitive tactics in the grocery industry, is a major cause for concern.”
Quebecor claims that, based on available data, if Glentel gets exclusive selling rights at The Mobile Shop, the Big Three telecom players will control 62.5 per cent of all third-party retailers in the Canadian wireless industry. Currently, Bell, Rogers and Telus control approximately 49.5 per cent of third-party wireless retailers, Quebecor says.
“The expansion of controlled retail will deprive the other players of a fair and equitable opportunity to make a dent in the controlling market share of the Big 3,” Péladeau said. “These concerns were brought to the attention of Loblaw senior management but were brushed aside. They are pursuing their own financial interests at the expense of Canadian consumers.”
Quebecor’s complaint to the Competition Bureau follows a May 9 letter the telecom sent to the federal industry minister, complaining about the Loblaw-Bell-Rogers deal, which was followed by a May 22 letter from NDP leader Jagmeet Singh and Brian Masse, the NDP’s critic for innovation, science and industry, to Matthew Boswell, the commissioner of competition.
On May 22, Innovation, Science and Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne told Parliament Hill reporters Quebecor’s letter to him should have been sent to the Competition Bureau.
