Quebecor Inc. QBR-B-T says it has filed a complaint with the Competition Bureau regarding an agreement between Loblaw L-T and wireless carriers Bell and Rogers, through their joint venture Glentel.
The company says the deal would give Bell and Rogers RCI-B-T exclusive selling rights at the Mobile Shop in-store kiosks and shut Quebecor’s Freedom Mobile out of 180 Loblaw-owned grocery stores.
Quebecor chief executive Pierre Karl Peladeau says the agreement between Loblaw and Glentel cloaks an attempt by the dominant players in the telecommunications market to thwart competition.
The Mobile Shop currently lists plans for sale from all four major Canadian carriers or their subsidiaries on its website.
In a May 9 letter to Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, Peladeau said Loblaw described the move as a routine decision about its store suppliers, but he called it “a stratagem designed to exclude some carriers in favour of Glentel.”
Loblaw, Rogers and Bell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.