A little white ago Rogers Wireless set up a new sub-brand named Chatr which was meant to compete for local, no contract, cheap, unlimited service against the likes of Mobilicity and Wind Mobile, and Rogers started advertising “fewer dropped calls that new wireless carriers.”
Well advertising such as that apparently hasn’t sat too well the Competition Bureau of Canada according to an article over on Intomobile by Simon Sage, and thus the CBC is asking the Superior Court of Ontario for several judgements.
The CBC wants the Superior Court to make Rogers Wireless halt the advertising campaign along with engaging in any similar campaigns, hand over an admin monetary penalty of a whopping $10 million, inform the public of any orders issued against them and pay restitution to any affected customers.
Of course this case is only just being placed before the court, and no doubt Rogers will have a large team of lawyers gearing up to fight their side, but will probably pull back a tad on such advertising in the meantime. However if the court sides with the CBC it may cost Rogers quite a bundle.
UPDATE: We had an email sent to us via someone on the Rogers Social Media team, the email contained a press release, read it below:
Rogers Communications Comments on Today’s Competition Bureau Announcement
Toronto, ON (November 19, 2010) – Rogers Communications commented today on the actions of the Competition Bureau regarding chatr wireless. “We’re surprised by the actions of the Competition Bureau,” said Ken Engelhart, Senior Vice President of Regulatory, Rogers Communications. “We have extensive, independent third party testing to validate our claims and we stand by our advertising. We will vigorously defend this action in court.”
“We’ve completed extensive testing in coverage areas across the country and there’s no question that the testing validates the advertising in market,” said Todd Stone, President & CEO, Score Technologies.
Score Technologies is an independent third party organization that specializes in network testing for leading wireless carriers across North America. About Rogers Communications Inc
Rogers Communications is a diversified Canadian communications and media company. We are engaged in wireless voice and data communications services through Wireless, Canada’s largest wireless provider. Through Cable, we are one of Canada’s leading providers of cable television services as well as high-speed Internet access and telephony services. Through Media, we are engaged in radio and television broadcasting, televised shopping, magazines and trade publications, and sports entertainment. We are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: RCI.A and RCI.B) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RCI). For further information about the Rogers group of companies, please visit www.rogers.com