If you aren’t aware of the heat between Mobilicity and Chatr, here is a little recap. Mobilicity is a new wireless startup in Canada. They have a pretty cool system, where calling within your “zone” is cheaper or unlimited than other calling, and you pay for the type of service you need (not just your minutes but also whether you get long distance, or all-Canada calling, etc.) Soon after Mobilicity announced its plans for launching and expanding, Rogers, a well-established wireless provider in Canada, decided to launch their own cheap, entry-level cell service called Chatr in the same service areas as Mobilicity. Mobilicity threatened Rogers that if they did that, Mobilicity would file complaints according to laws that encourage competition.
Mobilicity has now filed those complaints with “various government agencies.” Their statement, given to mobilesyrup, is below:
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.
What do you think about free markets, anti-trust laws, and competition in the cell service market?