Rogers pushes back against Competition Bureau's allegations of deceptive marketing

Rogers pushes back

Photo: The Canadian Press

Telecommunications company Rogers Communications signage is pictured in Ottawa on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Rogers Communications Inc. has filed a response to the Competition Bureau's allegations against the company of false advertising related to unlimited data plans.

The bureau alleged in December that Rogers' ads create the false or misleading impression that the plans provide consumers with limitless data, when in reality data service is severely limited once a data cap is reached.

It said data speeds are reduced, or throttled, by over 99 per cent once a customer hits the cap, though Rogers notes that the vast majority of customers never hit their cap.

Rogers said in its response that the bureau is unreasonably targeting the company for an advertising format that all other major telecom providers have also used.

It also says the bureau ignores Rogers' "ubiquitous disclosure" of key plan features, ignores "widespread" customer understanding of such plans and presents a highly selective and misleading collection of advertisements.

The bureau said it has filed an application with the Competition Tribunal to have Rogers stop the allegedly misleading advertising, pay a penalty and issue restitution to Infinite wireless phone plan customers.