Type Joint venture Area served Canada, United States Headquarters Ottawa, Canada Number of locations 400 Number of employees 2,100 | Industry Wireless Revenue C$308 million (2009) CEO Ravi Nookala Founded 1963 | |
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Key people Tom Skidmore,
Chairman, CEO, President Products Wireless, Telecommunications Subsidiaries WirelessWave, Glentel Amt Pty Ltd Parent organizations Rogers Communications, Bell Canada, BCE Inc. | ||
The glentel story
Glentel is a Canadian retail firm. Based in Burnaby, the company deals primarily as a retailer of mobile phone services; in Canada, the company operates over 400 wireless outlets operating under the Tbooth Wireless and WirelessWave brands, particularly in mall kiosks. Glentel outlets sell services from Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless—who jointly own the company, along with their respective pre-paid/value brands (such as Fido and Virgin Mobile), and SaskTel in Saskatchewan. The company also operates store-within-a-store kiosks at Canadian Costco locations under the Wireless etc. brand, and operated as Target Mobile at Target locations in Canada until the chain's closure. In 2010, the company first expanded into the United States with its acquisition of Verizon Wireless retail chain Diamond Wireless.
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On November 28, 2014, BCE Inc. announced that it would acquire Glentel for $670 million, pending regulatory approval, in an effort to boost its retail presence. After a dispute with Rogers, who argued that it was contractually required to consent to any change in ownership of the company, Bell announced that it would divest a 50% stake in Glentel to Rogers upon the closure of the acquisition, turning the company into a 50/50 joint venture between the rival firms.
Retail Division
Glentel’s Canadian Retail Division has three brands – WirelessWave, Tbooth Wireless, and Wireless etc., Target mobile It has more than 310 retail locations that are located in shopping malls, street fronts, and Costco Warehouses across Canada. Glentel's US retail division consists of over 240+ Diamond Wireless - Verizon Premium retail locations in the United States.
Glentel's original brand, WirelessWave, was founded in 1997. The first store was opened in Burnaby's Metrotown Mall. WirelessWave currently has 121 mall-based and street front stores located in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick.
In 2005, Glentel acquired Tbooth Wireless. Since 2005, the number of Tbooth wireless stores has increased by more than 50%, with over 80 locations across Canada; including an expansion westward into Alberta and British Columbia.
In 2007, Glentel launched Wireless etc., a store-within-a-store for wireless services at Costco locations.
In August 2010, Glentel acquired Diamond Wireless, a Verizon Wireless retailer based in Salt Lake City, Utah. There are 132 stores, the majority of which are located in shopping malls in the southern and western United States; Diamond Wireless has a presence in Washington State, Oregon, Utah, Colorado, California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Hawaii.
In October 2010, Glentel launched Wireless Wave in Québec as Wave Sans Fil.
In November 2012, Glentel bought an 83% stake in telecommunications retailer AMT Group for 70.6 million Australian dollars (US$73.4 million). The AMT Group operates and manages over 210 stores nationally across Australia under Samsung, Allphones and Virgin Mobile branded Stores. The AMT Group consists of 5 brands which includes AllPhones (operating in Australia and Philippines), My Number, All Distribution, Walk n Talk and Australian Retail Management Services.
In 2013, Glentel/AMT Group bought a 25% stake in Vodlo Pty Limited, a Sydney-based multinational software firm with offices in the United States and India [1]. The decision to purchase equity in Vodlo was made due to their implementation of mobile and cloud technology within their product offerings, CloudMito which provides telecommunication retail outlets with transactional and contract processing solutions. In an interview held at the World Mobile Conference in 2015, CEO Aniket Tapre, CIO Daniel Aiello and CTO Matthew Adams hinted at a new product category that Vodlo was exploring with an official public announcement expected to be made in spring about the companies future product offering.
Corporate history
Glentel has a long and complex history.
Acquisition by Bell and Rogers
On November 28, 2014, Bell Canada announced that it would acquire Glentel for $670 million, pending regulatory and shareholder approval, in an effort to boost its retail presence. Bell also operates first-party retail outlets for its services, and owns The Source, a Canadian electronics store chain that also sells Bell services. The company planned to continue serving as a reseller for non-Bell brands after the acquisition is completed.
On December 17, 2014, Rogers Communications filed for an injunction against Glentel at the Ontario Supreme Court, seeking to have the acquisition blocked. It argued that pursuant to Glentel's supply agreements with the company, Rogers had to consent to any change in company ownership. The company also foresaw the possibility of Glentel's retailers showing favouritism towards Bell brands following the merger. Glentel CEO Tom Skidmore disputed Rogers' complaint, stating that "Rogers has the right to remove their products from our Canadian stores if they choose to terminate its agreement with us, but has no right under its agreement to block the acquisition of Glentel."
On December 24, 2014, Bell announced that they had reached a compromise, in which Rogers would acquire a 50% stake in Glentel upon completion of the purchase. The acquisition was completed on May 6, 2015.