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Mobilicity on Chatr: “we will be pursuing those avenues” of legal action
It was known that if Rogers new discount brand “Chatr” launched, new entrant Mobilicity would proceed with legal action. Mobilicity believes that Rogers launching Chatr is an attempt “to destroy our success” and goes against the “Abuse of Dominant Position” in the Competition Act.
I just had a phone conversation with Stewart Lyons, COO of Mobilicity. I wasn’t allowed to put the audio clip online but here’s what he had this to say about Chatr:
“We served them with a letter last week that basically said if it launches in a manner as was revealed then we would take some certain legal action. Among those things were civil litigation, complaint to the competition tribunal, complaint to the regulatory authorities… and since it did launch in that manner we will be pursuing those avenues.”
A couple years ago the when the government announced the Wireless Spectrum Auction, the Industry Minister stated “Our government’s intentions are clear: to achieve lower prices, better service and more choice for consumers and business. We believe in relying on market forces to the maximum extent feasible because competition benefits consumers, and consumers benefit most when markets are as competitive as they can be.”
In addition, today Lyons said “we do this obviously for our company, but we also do this for consumers. At the end of the day prices have only started to go down. Things like Chatr only started launching when the new entrants came on the scene. Without long term sustained competition for the big 3, I dare say that I don’t believe affordability and value will remain in Canada’s wireless sector for the consumer. If we’re not around the consumer won’t win in the long term… they will just raise prices eventually.”
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32 comments for “Mobilicity on Chatr: “we will be pursuing those avenues” of legal action”
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Good!
And everything he says in the last paragraph is spot on what will happen.
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the funny thing is as I’m reading this page the advertisements on the top and right are Chatr adverts.
O.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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Actually, that’s NOT how it works. Thank goodness people like you aren’t in charge.
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Best Chatr-related news i’ve read today.
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What I find strange is the fact that we already had 3 different wireless providers already. I’m surprised the government hasn’t already looked into their business practices. For example Call Display. Recently Telus RAISED it’s rates on Call Display to “remain competitive”. In a normal and sane economic model you lower rates to entice more customers to buy your product vs. your higher priced rivals.
The only way I can see raising rates to be more competitive is if the big 3 have some kind of back room agreements to not compete on rates etc.
I wish Mobilicity the best in their fight against Chat-r and the Jolly Rogers.
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What’s even more grotesque is that caller ID costs the carriers just about nothing to provide. The profit margin on the $6 to $8 monthly cost to consumers must be around a gazillion percent. So, yes, in a sane and competitive environment the cost to the consumer for CID would fall to virtually nothing and likely just be folded in as a regular service feature. Not surprisingly, we see call CID included from free on all plans with Wind and Mobilicity.
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Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
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*yawn*
Hmmm, would a new company putting up a nework from scratch be at a disadvantage against a well established company that is using their already well established network?
If the newbies could count on Rogers, Bell, or Telus to fill in the gaps for them, would we notice the spotty network? If chatr had to stand alone and build it’s own network without big brother’s help, would it be spotty? How much of the profits from either one need to be put back in to expand and upgrade to provide better service? Chatr is not competing all by itself, Rogers is going to cheat to win.
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1. In order to make a case, I think Mobilicity would have to demonstrate that Rogers is engaged in predatory pricing—meaning that it’s meant to eliminate the competition rather than to legitimately compete in the marketplace.
2. Chat-r as far as I can tell is extremely basic for a wireless carrier: just voice and text are currently available. Not a very compelling service if you want to use a smartphone (hence data) on their network.
3. I sympathize with the newcomers fighting the big 3 carriers. I want competition. For this reason I’ll be switching away from my current carrier (probably to Wind), but in order to do so, the network has to get into better shape. A bit of a catch 22.
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Mobilicity doesn’t care about “the consumer” they only care about making money. And don’t say crap about me, I’m currently with mobi. for now at least, their network is too spotty for me. I need coverage at the bluffs and the beaches… Maybe I’ll try wind.
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Ultimatly all businesses only care about making money. It’s the balance between giving enough to retain and keeping enough to profit and grow. If the little guys were competing on the same level as the big three’s little sisters you’d get similar experiences from them all. I’m sure if you switched you would be very happy with chatr network wise. Rogers has spent much more for much longer building it.
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Like a previous poster said, suck it up. It’s called competition. Sure it launched in the cities Mobilicity is in, but oh well, get over it. Mobilicity sound like that kid on the playground who went crying to mommy when a new kid came to school.
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Haha, ya if the new kid was three times the other kids age and sporting an ample waistline.
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could be three years older with that ample waistline, but the nicest guy ever. i’m not saying chatr will be a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but i was with bell and i hated their service, both cell phone service and customer. i have never had a problem with either of those from rogers. sure my blackberry bill is huge but i get really reliable service. it also depends on your mindset. if you expect everything is the way you’d want it, you’re screwed. if you understand that all they care about is money, you’re set. not hard to know business wants money. going ahead with that ideal, very smart life decision
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I totally disagree with you apowerranger. Actually, it is just opposite of what you are saying. Rogers and Bell have been in the playground for so long, and they just bully the new kids.
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Chatr should eliminate Wind and save the country of being exploited by middle east war lords sponsors
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@Murtaza blowing people there with rip off $ transfer out of Canada
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I AGREE!!! TAKE ROGERS DOWNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hate those fuckers! =p
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The new entrants are not kids,they are adults who shouldn’t whine like babies and should act like real businessmen proving they can compete…all Mobilicity is doing is trying to get Rogers out of the playground and if they can’t they’ll run to mommie/daddie for help.So pathetic and childish.
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All im seeing is Mobi doesnt want to have to compete with anyone. Wind saw the news and said “Hey great, we caused this, now we will fight back. Here have $150 bucks to leave Rogers, Fido or Chatr and come to us”. Mobi knows they cant compete because the offer nothing of any real value. At least Wind is growing and adding new sites and handsets. When Mobi dies off very soon, maybe Wind will pick up there spectrum and put it to better use than Mobi ever could.
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All mobilicity is doing is just know they have crappy coverage and crappy plans but do they do anything no just sit on the investment money and cry we cant fight,we need crtc to solve it,deal with it or start offering better voice plans and coverage
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@max
I know that rogers and bell are the biggest players. i wasn’t disputing that they’ve been on the playground the longest. all i’m saying is that roger’s little brother has just started school and little mobilicity went crying to mommy. also worth note is WIND and their challenge. little WIND seems happy to have another kid to play with.
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Canadianman20 WindBag were did you get $150 dollars from? funding from Cairo.. you sure not Canadian
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As a Canadian who will never get a chance to open an account with any of the new players (I live out in the sticks) I am of the opinion that Rogers are perfectly entitled to ‘fight back’ – after all, the new players are cutting into their business….. competition is competion (and is what we wanted) – is it not?
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David, It’s a bit disingenuous when they open a new service which insults their existing customers that can’t enjoy a savings.
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George, you are not even a mobilicity customer so how do you know they have crappy coverage. I don’t expect them to be as good as the big three but at least they are not pretending they are a national carrier yet as wind did from day one.
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Mobilicity has a point about Rogers jumping in with Chatr. Rogers is trying squeeze off compettion.
Mobilicity needs to be more in touch with client base, for eg why did it take so kong to offer Cw,cf and Voice mail as a add on package , or to be included all plans other than the 15$. They were not competitive or flexible for the first bit. A poor way to start. Less is not more. need better selection of handsets. Lots of dealers going broke out there no doubt. Mobilicity has potential, but what i see s far is not encouraging.
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Gentleman.. let me just say that I find this whole thing amusing.. I worked as a gas station when I was a kid, we have some of the most expensive gas BUT some of he best techs and service was top notch.. Wind wants to live thru this.. get your network working, quit wearing uncle swaris fez and grow a pair.. tony as much said they are run by orascom.. so they admit they are not Canadian.. so if we take that at face value it is now clear why they are ready for their swan song.. Orascom shareholders are livid that Jabroni did not, could not, get all the subs he said he could.. 100k.. umm sorry Chelsy internally wind says less than 70k.. active paying subs.. over 100k signed up.. but many have left. since wind is taking a page out of Orascoms book they will claim they have over 100k of ” active numbers ” active..
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That’s what I over-heard from one of the guys working at the Eglinton West office…they will include the total number that joined Wind from the beginning without including the thousands that left.This is how Orascom probably doctored the papers in Algiers when they were caught with tax evasion and all the other countries they displayed their corruption in like Italy where criminal charges were laid in the way they bought Wind.
Remember every penny going to these individuals rubs off on you…our Canadian companies will never be that bad and it’s not illegal to provide a good service at a higher price and as long as customers are willing to sign up for it on their own.
And PLEASE don’t complain about the CONTRACTS as most of you are hypocrites if you do…you’ll do anything to get those Androids cheap since most of you will and whining about the company being unfair makes YOU look like a total fool.I’m sure the majority of you in the same position would not be giving away these units for free just so people can entertain themselves and if you want to blame anyone look at yourself or the companies who make them at a profit.
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Here’s the problem with Chatr: If Rogers wanted to compete they would have dropped prices on an existing brand, Fido for example. This would have meant both new and existing customers could benefit from their network and reduced prices. Instead they’ve opened up a brand new clone that will only take away from the competition’s business and not benifit their existing clients (who are probably locked in anyways).
This is what Moblicity is talking about, this is why they’re crying foul. Rogers has enough money to blow on this long enough to muscle the new carriers out and still rake in the money with their existing clients. This is what a Monopoly is, it’s not healthy competition, and it’s Illegal.
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I was one of the first people to join mobilicity and referred so many people to mobilicity because their plan was awesome + they were offering an unlimited package to Pakistan for $20. Mobilicity, as you all know, ended the package abruptly claiming abuse. That is not true, the real reason for Mobilicity to offer the $20 service was to attract south asian population and have them sign up. After they had a decent subscriber base they took the package away.
Mobilicity is looking to sue Rogers, but mobilicity should be ready for a lawsuit from the Pakistani community as we are about to file a class action lawsuit against mobilicity. So many of us were lured to sign up with mobilicity only to be deceived in the end.
Affected susbcribers can contact yaar_khan@yahoo.com for further info.
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