Optus to send letters for misleading ads

update The Federal Court has today ordered Optus to send letters to each of its customers who bought broadband plans during the company's "Supersonic" and "Think Bigger" broadband advertising campaigns.

Earlier this month Federal Court Judge Nye Perram ruled in favour of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's (ACCC) argument that Optus had misled customers with its advertising campaigns. The telco had not made it obvious in the ads that users would have their connection shaped down to 64 kilobits per second once they passed their monthly download limit.

Perram had banned Optus from launching similar advertising campaigns for a period of three years.

Today Perram ordered the telco to send letters explaining the ruling to customers who had signed onto the plans in the period the advertisements were running. He also ordered Optus to put a notice advising of the ruling on its website and have in-store advertising until 31 December 2010 advising customers of the corrections. Perram said he would not force the telco to issue corrective advertising in newspapers or on television.

The ACCC and Optus have reached an agreement over court costs, counsel told the court.

Updated at 10:26am, 22 November 2010: we incorrectly reported that the court issues were with Optus' Superfast plans. It was actually the carrier's Supersonic plans. The carrier also only had to put the information on the court ruling in its stores and on its site, as well as sending the letters.