Bell signs exclusive partnership with Dollarama to sell Lucky, Virgin Mobile SIM cards for $4

Bell’s prepaid wireless brand Lucky Mobile and it’s flanker brand Virgin Mobile will exclusively sell SIM cards at all Dollaramas across the country for $4 CAD starting today.

Two senior Bell executives said during a phone interview that customers will be able to purchase SIM cards at all 1,200 Dollarama locations and activate the card either online or by calling customer care.

Currently Lucky and Virgin SIM cards are sold at Walmart, Wirelesswave, TBooth, the Source, Visions Electronics, Cellular Point, the Mobile Shop, Hasty Market, No Frills, Canadian Tire Gas + and the Real Canadian Superstore.

“We do carry prepaid in most of our retail distribution points, but over the course of the last year, Bell has re-entered and refocused on the prepaid marketplace and specifically with respect to Lucky we thought that the Dollarama brand was a good partnership in that both represent a target of the value-conscious customer,” one executive said.

The executive said rate plans will not change, but now customers will be able to purchase SIM cards for $4 CAD.

It’s important to note that these cards at other retail locations cost $10 CAD.

When asked why Bell is knocking down the price of SIM cards, one executive said: “Dollarama has a mandate overall that nothing will be sold over $4 CAD so from a partner perspective, if we want to do business with them we had to live within that realm.”

The other executive stated that while this price change “could have an impact” in Bell’s earnings, it was a “risk we are willing to take to expand distribution.”

The executives both also noted that this model was very different than what is currently being offered in other retail locations.

“This is a self-service experience. So for the most part, if you look at Walmart, Source, or TBooth, that model is a very different model than this and in those models, you have a sales representative doing the selling and activating. In this model, because it’s self serve and because it’s mandated dollar in Dollarama, the value proposition is different,” the executive said.

For the most part though, neither Lucky or Virgin are going to change its face or brand, the two noted.

One executive also highlighted that the prepaid market is one that is heavily growing and it’s part of the market that Bell wants to continue to grow.

It’s also worth adding that Bell launched Lucky in December 2017, and in the carrier’s Q4 2018 earnings it reported adding 21,334 new prepaid customers.

The company is expected to announce it’s Q1 2019 results on May 2nd and will host its annual general meeting that same day.

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