ISPOne vs Telstra as mobile wholesaler tries to save its contract

Update: ISPOne last night revealed at about 7pm that it had won the injunction against Telstra.

The date of the trial, which will resolve the matter between the two companies as the ordered mediation has seemingly failed, is yet unknown, but an ISPOne spokesperson told TechRadar that they expect to have more information today.

Telstra also sent out a statement, saying: "The legal process is continuing. We will continue to exercise all our legal rights in this case and defend the claims raised by ispONE."

"There will be no changes to the arrangements we have in place with ispONE while the case is ongoing," it added.

Original article...

ISPOne has found itself back in court this week, having filed an urgent application with the Australian Federal Court to stop Telstra from terminating mobile services to its customers on Monday.

According to a statement from ISPOne on Monday, Telstra had threatened to terminate services as ISPOne had failed to pay invoices by the due date. However, ISPOne claimed that Telstra actually owes it money.

"ISPOne claims that no amount is presently due and payable, and that Telstra owes it money based on Telstra's incorrect rating of data pricing for prepaid mobile services," the company said.

The company also claimed that Telstra breached its agreement, engaged in misleading, deceptive and unconscionable conduct, and is entitlement to damages because of problems it experienced earlier this year with Telstra's mobile prepaid platform.

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ISPOne went on to say that it had tried to resolve the issue with Telstra, but as it was not successful, it filed the court application as a last resort.

In light of these accusations, Telstra has maintained that ISPOne had not paid its invoices in time, saying that it too had tried to reach a payment agreement with ISPOne.

"We will continue to defend the claims raised by ISPOne," a Telstra spokesperson said.

"Over a period of several months, we have given them every opportunity to develop a repayment plan for their debt, but to date, we have been unable to reach a satisfactory agreement."

A Telstra wholesale customer, ISPOne supplies services on Telstra's network to over 280,000 customers through retailers and MNVOs such as Kogan Mobile and Aldi Mobile.

Earlier this year, Kogan Mobile took ISPOne to court after over 600 customers were kicked off the network without warning for using too much data. ISPOne was later ordered to pay Kogan Mobile for damages.

According to ITWire, during court proceedings, Telstra said that it did not believe ISPOne would be able to pay all of its debts.

Courting mediation

On Monday, the Federal Court ordered Telstra and ISPOne to attend mediation.

Representatives from Aldi Mobile and Kogan Mobile had yesterday attended the mediation as well.

Kogan Mobile yesterday issued an email to customers, saying: "If Telstra terminates its contract with ISPOne, this is very likely to impact Kogan Mobile's own customers' services (through no fault of Kogan Mobile)."

"We are monitoring these developments closely, as they may affect the continuity of our prepaid mobile services," it added.

As mediation between the companies continued on until last night and with a judgement expected to me made at 2.15pm tomorrow, Telstra has maintained that: "We have contingency plans in place to limit the impact on end users."

This could entail direct or temporary deals with affected MVNOs to maintain service to customers.