Wireless Services / International Data Roaming

The Case

On January 10, 2013, Inga Sibiga filed a motion for authorization to institute a class action against the major Canadian wireless service providers and their associated brands:

Rogers Wireless, Fido Solutions, and Chatr Wireless;

Bell Mobility, Virgin Mobile Canada, and Solo Mobile; and

Telus Mobility and Koodo Mobile (collectively, the “Defendants”).

The claim alleges that these wireless service providers charged consumers exploitative and abusive fees for using the internet on a mobile device while travelling outside Canada.

In January 2013, the Respondents charged mobile data roaming rates ranging from $5 to $31 per megabyte or $5,120 to $31,744 per gigabyte. The claim alleges that these rates bear no relation to the underlying costs of providing this service and greatly exceed their fair market value.

On August 10, 2016, the Court of Appeal of Quebec authorized the class action and named Ms. Sibiga as the Representative Plaintiff of the following class of persons:

All consumers residing in Quebec who were charged international mobile data roaming fees by the Respondents at a rate higher than $5.00 per megabyte after January 8, 2010.

This proceeding seeks a reduction of these fees as damages to compensate class members as well as punitive damages for the exploitation of Quebec consumers.

If you think you are a class member and want to receive information on the class action, you can sign up to our mailing list by signing the form on this page.

For general information on how class actions work, see our section entitled “What are class actions?”.

Where are we?

Rogers, Bell and Telus have 30 days to decide whether they will try to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision.

If the Defendants do not appeal the decision and it becomes final, the Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec will name a judge who will manage the case and hear the trial.