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Mobilicity officially files complaint “against Rogers with various government agencies, including the Competition Bureau”


It’s clear that new entrant Mobilicity and Rogers new discount brand Chatr Wireless don’t see eye to eye and simply dislike each others wireless strategy. On July 9th, Chairman of Mobilicity John Bitove said that Chatr is “trying to destroy our success” and should not be allowed to launch because of the “Abuse of Dominant Position” in the Competition Act. Basically, Chatr was an idea that was started a year ago and launched in the same core cities as Mobilicity eventually will (Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver). Chatr ramped up their service incredibly fast offering similar unlimited talk and text plans with no-contract devices.

On the actual date that Chatr launched, Stewart Lyons, COO of Mobilicity said in our interview with him that “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.” Today we have an update for you as Mobilicity sent us an e-mail stating:

“Further to our interview in July and your request to be kept updated on Mobilicity’s response to Rogers’ launch of Chatr, please be advised that late last week Mobilicity’s legal counsel filed complaints against Rogers with various government agencies, including the Competition Bureau, on the grounds that Chatr is in direct breach of Section 78 of the Competition Act prohibiting market leaders from using “fighting brands to discipline or eliminate a competitor.”

We will not be issuing any statements other than to say we are strong proponents of a healthy, fair and sustainable competitive environment in Canada’s wireless sector, and we are confident that the Competition Bureau and federal government will ensure this remains the case. – Stewart Lyons, Chief Operating Officer, Mobilicity”

What do you think of all this new “competition”?

Update #1: We just received an email from Rogers in response to the legal action Mobilicity has taken. Basically saying we’ve received nothing from any government body and all the other wireless carriers are fine with us being in the market.

John Boynton, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Communications stated the following:
“We have not been notified by any government agencies, including the Competition Bureau, of any complaints filed by Mobilicity. Other new entrants and competitors are welcoming the competition. They, like us, believe it’s good for customers. Our motive is simple, to offer customers choice and serve a growing segment that is looking for unlimited talk and text on a network they can trust. We’ve adhered to regulations and pro-actively reached out to the Competition Bureau. We are committed to chatr and look forward to it being a success.”

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