Rogers launched a sub-brand called Chatr a few months ago solely to compete with Wind Mobile and Mobilicity for local, cheap, no-contract, unlimited service. Of course, Rogers had the added advantage of having built out their network already, and happily leveraged the fact with advertising that boasted “fewer dropped calls than new wireless carriers”, and stuff like what you see above. As it turns out, the Competition Bureau of Canada wasn’t a fan of that choice of words and are asking the Ontario Superior Court to make Rogers:
- immediately stop the advertising campaign and refrain from engaging in similar campaigns;
- pay an administrative monetary penalty of $10 million dollars;
- pay restitution to affected customers; and
- issue a corrective notice to inform the general public about the nature and provisions of the order issued against them.
These charges come after a two-month investigation spurred on by Wind Mobile, who is obviously pretty happy about this eventuality. CEO Anthony Lacavera says:
“As longstanding champions of wireless choice for Canadians, we are very pleased that the Competition Bureau has come to this conclusion and we applaud its decision to stand up for Canadian consumers and their right to accurate information. This signifies another important milestone in the ongoing fight for fair wireless in Canada.”
Mobilicity also gives this a big ol’ thumbs-up. CEO Dave Dobbin says:
“We commend the Competition Bureau for taking action on the complaints that Mobilicity initiated months ago and we are committed to continuing to lead the way to ensure fair competition. It seems that the government of Canada, the governments of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba, and about 31 million Canadians are fed up with the Big 3. We believe they are fed up with high prices, lousy service and high-handed attitude. Today alone, Rogers was hit with a massive lawsuit by the Competition Bureau and they even called the police on Mobilicity’s Magenta Militia singing dance troupe. We invite all Canadians to join Mobilicity in this fight for consumers.”
The case is only being brought before the court for now, so Rogers will fight this and likely shave down that fine at least a little bit, but this is a significant victory for the little guys, and likely frustrating for Rogers and the rest of the Big Three who are used to having things go their way. Combine this with the budding Bill 133, which is attempting to force carriers in Ontario to unlock phones after a wireless service contract is finished, Rogers is facing some pretty big changes in the new year.