The ispONE Case Might Mean The End Of Kogan Mobile

It’s no secret that Kogan Mobile and ispONE have had their issues in the past, but the wholesaler’s latest war with Telstra means that a contract that keeps Australia’s cheapest MVNOs alive might be terminated. Kogan Mobile is today warning customers that the end may be nigh for their service.

Kogan Mobile is today emailing 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.

The key point here to wrap your head around is the relationships: Kogan Mobile and AldiMobile on-sell Telstra’s wholesale 3G network, but not direcly though Telstra. Telstra on-sells the service through a wholesaler called ispONE, which then flogs the service to the MVNOs.

Yesterday, 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.

The two parties are locked in remediation as you read this, and if that remediation fails, the two parties will be back in a Melbourne court at 2:45pm AEST today.

In the emantime, Kogan Mobile is telling its customers to contac Telstra and plead with them not to pull the plug on the contract with ispONE, as it would negatively affect their service through no fault of Kogan Mobile.

The email in full has been republished below.