Kogan sues ispONE

Online retailer Kogan has launched legal action against wholesale partner ispONE after the latter blocked a subset of Kogan's Mobile customers from using its network due to ‘high-usage’.

Kogan Mobile was forced to offer compensation to customers kicked off its network for using too much of its mobile service late last month.

Kogan’s network operates through Telstra Wholesale prepaid mobile distributor ispONE, with the retailer paying the reseller per user.

The online retailer today took formal action against ispONE in Victoria’s Supreme Court, accusing ispONE of breaching its agreement.

It called for ispONE to be legally suspended from booting customers off the network and asked it to supply 50,000 micro SIM and 15,000 nano SIM cards to the online retailer. 

Kogan’s foray into telecommunications began last December when it launched Kogan Mobile, offering unlimited calls and texts and 6GB of data for $29 on its prepaid mobile plan. Customers were encouraged to sign up for a three month trial period.

Customers complained of being dumped with no warning last month, which Kogan blamed on overuse by 200 customers, 0.2 percent of its 100,000-strong user base. 

Kogan blamed ispONE for ‘acting independently’ of the retailer and preventing select customers from extending their access after the three-month trial period.

ispONE did not respond to request for comment by the time of publication. Kogan declined to comment.