Kogan Mobile launched late last year as a genuinely different budget carrier — if only because it was the first budget carrier not on Optus or Vodafone — but hit problems with its wholesale partner that ended up in court. Kogan won that case today, releasing an official statement… and a slightly more ad-hoc one.
Luke Hopewell over at Gizmodo has done a nice job covering the case — you can read the background here — and today it appears Kogan has won its court battle. Kogan’s PR agency issued the following release:
“We entered the telecommunications industry to shake things up, and make mobile access more affordable for all Australians. We knew this would ruffle a few feathers in the industry, but we never expected it to end up in Court.
Today’s victory means that Kogan Mobile customers can rest assured that their services will not be unlawfully interfered with by the wholesaler. Australians can trust Kogan Mobile to continue to provide the best deals in the market. We’re glad the right result was reached, and that the truth about the last few months is now abundantly clear.
Kogan will always fight for our customers to ensure that they get the best deals in the market.
Today is a win for Australians fed up with paying too much for their mobile phone access. The migration to Kogan Mobile has been one of the largest in Australian telecommunications history, and with today’s result we can only see this migration gathering further momentum.”
Whereas Ruslan Kogan, never a man to shy away from an opinion, was rather more brief on Twitter:
“Kogan’s goal is to make technology more affordable.The problem with a shitfight is that even when you win you’re still covered in shit. I prefer to resolve issues wearing a t-shirt over a coffee. I hate ironing shirts & escalating to the courts is always a last resort. That said, Kogan will always take whatever measures are necessary to ensure our customers are protected and get the best deals.”