Is this the beginning of the end for Kogan Mobile? (UPDATE: Yes, yes it is)
EFTM this morning reports that Kogan Mobile is no longer offering long-expiry recharge options to customers, presumably because the future of the company and its ability to offer the service beyond a month-to-month basis is still up in the air.
The $99 Access plan, which previously offered 90 days of service, as well as the $329 Access plan, which offered 365-days of access, are now appearing as “Unavailable” on the Kogan Mobile website. Error messages also appear in the user dashboard when customers try and re-up their service with the now-barred options.
To understand why this is happening, you need to understand the relationships: Kogan Mobile and AldiMobile on-sell Telstra’s wholesale 3G network, but not directly though Telstra. Telstra on-sells the service through a wholesaler called ispONE, which then flogs the service to the MVNOs.
Telstra and ispONE landed in the Federal Court, with the wholesaler alleging that Telstra would move to cut off 280,000 services over a billing dispute. Telstra was alleging that ispONE hadn’t been paying its bills, while ispONE alleged that Telstra fibbed about data rates. ispONE scored an injunction against Telstra, safeguarding the services from disconnection until a full trial can be held.
Kogan Mobile last week emailed customers telling them that their service soon may shut off because of the court case between ispONE, and Telstra, due to the fact that Telstra may soon kill its contract with the wholesaler.
Are you jumping ship from Kogan because of ispONE? [EFTM]
Gavel image via Shutterstock