Amaysim Australia Ltd (ASX:AYS) and Lycamobile Pty Ltd are paying penalties totalling $126,000 and $12,600 respectively.
The ACCC issued the companies with an infringement notice for alleged false or misleading representations about their mobile phone plans.
It’s alleged that each business separately misrepresented that their mobile phone plans were ‘unlimited’ in advertisements on social media. The advertisements were designed to entice new customers, when in fact the plans had a maximum data allowance.
On 1 January amaysim advertised on its Twitter, which included the statement ‘…your mother loves the Unlimited Mobile Data offer from amaysim’ and the hashtag ‘#UnlimitedMobileData’.
Amaysim’s advertised plans only provided an unlimited data allowance for the first three renewals and then would revert to a capped amount, with charges imposed if the data use by customers exceeded by the capped amount.
On 29 November, Lycamobile published an advertisement on its Facebook page which referred to ‘Unlimited Plan S’ and ‘Unlimited Plan M’. The ACCC alleges it represented to consumers that these plans would provide an unlimited data allowance.
Each of Lycamobile’s ‘unlimited’ plans had a capped data allowance, and customers who exceeded that allowance were subject to additional charges.
“Consumers who saw the word ‘unlimited’ in the advertisements without any explanation of the limits of the plans were likely to expect they would not charge additional fees for mobile data, no matter how much data they used,” says ACCC Chair, Rod Sims.
“The telco industry has been previously put on notice that their advertisements must be clear and transparent and must not contain claims like ‘unlimited’ without a clear and prominent disclosure of any qualification or exception which applies to the offer.
“We will continue to monitor mobile plan advertisements and won’t hesitate to enforce the law.”
