By Claire Reilly
The Full Federal Court has downgraded its fine against Optus, originally sought by the ACCC, for the false claims made about of the telco's broadband plans.
As Current.com.au previously reported, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission originally took Singtel Optus (the parent company of the Australian Optus brand) to court two years ago. The ACCC claimed that Optus had breached the Trade Practices Act 1974 (now known as the Competition and Consumer Act 2010), with the promotion of its “Think Bigger” and “Supersonic” internet broadband plans.
In July 2011, the Federal Court fined Optus $5.26 million for false advertising. However, Optus appealed the decision and the matter was brought before the Full Federal Court, which today ordered Optus to pay $3.61 million in civil pecuniary penalties for the transgression.
According to a statement from the ACCC, the court found that “Optus cannot be regarded as a first offender. It failed to observe the requirements of the Act, and not for the first time,” and “this court should proceed on the footing that Optus' conduct was very serious. The contraventions were on a grand scale. They were also unexplained."
“The absence of a satisfactory explanation for the contraventions and the evident laxity in its internal compliance program… mean that Optus has given the court no reason to be confident that, in the absence of a very substantial penalty, it will not regard as acceptable the risk of a fine for contravention.”
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Speaking about the judgement, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said it sent a message to businesses that these kinds of practices would not be tolerated.
“One thing is clear from this judgment, the court considers Optus’ conduct to be completely unacceptable,” said Sims. “As the Full Federal Court stated, there is no explanation for the contraventions.”
“The clear message from the Full Federal Court is that penalties must be set at a sufficiently high level so as to deter misleading conduct becoming a legitimate business strategy,” Sims said.