Suspended Kogan Mobile users win reprieve

Kogan Mobile users who were suspended for using more data than wholesaler ISPOne had deemed reasonable will be able to use their service once more, following a court injunction placed on ISPOne.

Kogan took ISPOne to court on Wednesday, alleging that the Telstra mobile wholesaler had breached the master wholesale agreement between the two companies for the provision of prepaid mobile services.

The launch of Ruslan Kogan's mobile service had been marred by criticism from customers who were blocked from recharging their prepaid services, because they were said to be using too much data or too many phone calls in a short timeframe.

Kogan Mobile was forced into a revision of its acceptable use policy for its "unlimited" mobile plans, stating that users may be cut off if they use more than 400MB per day on three or more days in a 30-day period, or more than 1GB in a single day.

Earlier this month, ZDNet revealed that Kogan did not directly suspend its customers; it was the company's wholesale provider, ISPOne, that was responsible.

"ISPOne acted without the authority of Kogan Mobile in preventing 0.2 percent of Kogan customers from extending their access, after their initial access period expired and they had received the services that they had paid for," the spokesperson said at the time.

According to writs seen by ZDNet ahead of a full hearing of the case, the Supreme Court of Victoria yesterday placed an injunction on ISPOne to stop suspending more Kogan prepaid mobile customers unless the account is in breach of the service suspension policy agreed between Kogan and ISPOne in February this year.

ISPOne must also lift the suspension on approximately 200 of the 100,000 Kogan Mobile customers who have been suspended so far.

In order to ensure that Kogan Mobile can keep offering mobile services, the court has also ordered that ISPOne provide 50,000 micro SIMs and 15,000 nano SIMs to Kogan Mobile by April 19, 2013.

ISPOne and Kogan Mobile declined to comment.