Wind Mobile chairman Anthony Lacavera will soon be facing more competition from Rogers in the five cities where his company operates. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press)

Wind Mobile is pre-empting the launch of a discount wireless brand from Rogers by targeting the larger company's customers with a special discount offer.

Wind on Thursday announced it would give Rogers customers, including those on its Fido and yet-to-be-launched Chatr brands, a $150 credit to switch. Rogers, Fido and Chatr subscribers coming over to Wind before Aug. 15 will get a $25-a-month credit for six months, the company said.

The deal is a continuation of a similar offer from Wind, which was intended to offset the sometimes-high early termination fees customers face when cancelling a contract with the country's major cellphone providers. The previous offer, however, also applied to customers of Bell, Telus and their respective brands.

Wind would not answer queries as to why it is targeting Rogers customers specifically, other than to say that it is trying to spur competition.

"This porting credit is in the spirit of healthy competition in the wireless market in Canada," said chairman Anthony Lacavera in an emailed response. "We welcome more competition and we're ready for it — it is all for the good of the consumer. Bring it on."

Rogers is taking aim at new wireless providers, including Wind, Mobilicity and Public Mobile, with Chatr. The discount provider, expected to launch in the next few weeks, will offer low-cost, unlimited calling and texting plans to match what the new carriers are selling.

The brand is expected to launch in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, the five cities that Wind operates in. Mobilicity is also offering service in Toronto and has plans to start up in the other four cities this year. Public Mobile is now operating in Toronto and Montreal.

A spokesperson for Rogers declined to comment since Chatr has not yet launched.

Mobilicity chair John Bitove has heavily criticized Rogers for its Chatr plan. Bitove plans to mount a legal challenge under the Competition Act, which he said prohibits the launch of flanker brands designed to destroy competition.