Rogers to axe Mobilicity brand

Rogers Communications is axing its low-cost brand Mobilicity less than a year after it purchased the struggling wireless carrier — and its coveted unused airwaves — for $465 million.

Rogers confirmed Tuesday it will transfer about 150,000 Mobilicity consumers to Chatr, its other, albeit slightly more expensive, low-cost, no-contract service this summer.

“We are working very hard to make this transition as smooth as possible and we’ll share more details with our new customers in the coming months,” Chatr Mobile vice-president Shailendra Gujarati said in a statement.

Customers won’t be able to add new Mobilicity lines after Aug. 15, but can change their current plans until joining Chatr, according to an statement from Rogers.

“The most important thing for customers to know is that they should keep using their plans like they have been,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson noted that Chatr has broader coverage zones than Mobilicity, which offered unlimited talk, text and data plans in Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver for as little as $25 per month.

Chatr’s prepaid plans charge more for data, but are otherwise similar.

Rogers said it will offer “comparable plans,” but did not say whether prices will increase. Mobilicity’s website says it will keep customers up to date as the transition occurs.

Rogers will also convert a “large number” of Mobilicity’s 180 dealer locations to the Chatr brand (it has 1,500 already), but it’s not clear whether there will be any impact on jobs.

Mobilicity, originally known as Data and Audio-Visual Enterprises Wireless, first came on the scene in 2008 as part of the Conservative government’s push to spark competition in the wireless market.

It bought AWS frequencies in the 2008 spectrum auction before launching in 2010.