Rogers appeals Competition Tribunal’s exclusion of details about commissioner’s alleged inaction in data plan dispute

Rogers Communications Inc. is appealing a Competition Tribunal decision that blocked the company from amending parts of its defence in its ongoing dispute with the Commissioner of Competition over its "Infinite" wireless plans. The appeal, filed Dec. 5, 2025, seeks to overturn an order from the tribunal last month that deemed certain proposed amendments irrelevant. Late last year, Competition Commissioner Matthew Boswell launched a proceeding against Rogers, alleging that the company’s Infinite wireless phone plans are misleading because they include data caps that significantly reduce speeds, a practice known as throttling. Rogers denies any false or misleading advertising of the plans. A final ruling from the Competition Tribunal has yet to be made. Rogers’ appeal rests on the exclusion of facts about the commissioner’s conduct prior to filing its application to the tribunal, facts which Rogers argues were only revealed during the discovery process in September and were not known to the company earlier. Rogers is asking the Federal Court of Appeal to force the tribunal to allow it to make amendments to its defence that include these facts. According to the company’s notice of appeal, before launching its Infinite plans in June 2019, Rogers reached out to the commissioner to describe the plans’ features and offered to meet, but the commissioner took no action. In 2020, and again in 2021, the commissioner conducted an assessment of “unlimited wireless plans” offered by various carriers, including Rogers, but the commissioner still took no action. Then, in 2022, the commissioner opened an investigation focusing solely on Rogers’ Infinite plan, which eventually led to the current proceeding at the Competition Tribunal. Rogers contends that these points, specifically the “apparent conclusions” that the commissioner allegedly came to by deciding not to object earlier, are highly relevant to the Competition Tribunal’s final decision. Rogers claims the information directly refutes the allegation that it was aware its representations were misleading, along with other aggravating factors that the commissioner is accusing Rogers of. The Competition Tribunal determined, according to the order under appeal, that the motivation and thinking behind the commissioner's timing in bringing the application are not relevant to the issue at hand. Echoing arguments made by the commissioner earlier in the proceeding. "What may be relevant is solely the timing or the fact that it took the commissioner five years to bring this application," the tribunal wrote. The tribunal also ruled that "the commissioner’s previous conclusions on whether Rogers’ conduct was false or misleading is not relevant to the matter at hand, just as it has no bearing on whether the consumers in the relevant market were vulnerable, nor does it change the nature of the conduct." "The fact that Rogers attempted to engage with the commissioner prior to and after the launch of its Infinite plans, without more, cannot reasonably equate to a confirmation by the commissioner of compliance with the ," the tribunal added. The Competition Bureau did not respond to The Wire Report’s request for comment by the time of publication. None of the allegations has been tested in court. phalentm@thewirereport.ca

Rogers appeals Competition Tribunal’s exclusion of details about commissioner’s alleged inaction in data plan dispute

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By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald
|December 10, 2025

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Rogers appeals Competition Tribunal’s exclusion of details about commissioner’s alleged inaction in data plan dispute

Court | By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald |December 10, 2025

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By Phalen Tynes-MacDonald
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