Dodo and iPrimus, both owned by the Vocus Group, have been fined to the tune of $2.5 million between them for misleading claims about their NBN speeds.
The Federal Court has slapped Dodo with $1.5 million in penalties, and iPrimus with $1 million, following an ACCC investigation which found their claims of “typical evening speeds” made between March 2018 and April 2019 were not based on appropriate testing methodology.
According to ACCC Chair Rod Sims, Dodo and iPrimus defied clear ACCC guidance on measuring broadband speeds and used Vocus’ own flawed method, thus misleading their customers; under Australian Consumer Law, service providers are barred from making false or misleading represations about their services’ performance.
Rod Sims, ACCC.
“Accurate information about broadband speeds, particularly during the busy period when consumers are most likely to use their services, is essential for consumers to be able to compare broadband offers and pick the best service for their needs.
“The ACCC brought this case because we were concerned that the methodology which the Vocus Group used as the basis for its speed claims cherry-picked only the fastest speeds its network could deliver, and ignored the slower speeds many of its customers experienced,” said Sims.
Vocus is the fourth largest telco in Australia, with 436,000 retail broadband customers and a 5.2 per cent share of consumer NBN services overall. Dodo and iPrimus both cooperated with the ACCC’s investigation, and admitted fault.
