Rogers to shutter Mobilicity, move customers to Chatr

Almost a year after buying it for $465 million, Rogers will pull the plug on Mobilicity and move all of the discount wireless company's 154,000 customers to its own discount brand, Chatr.

This switch will be made later this summer, and Mobilicitysays customers don't need to do anything for now. Mobilicitydoesn't ask its customers to sign up for binding contracts, so customers are free to leave at any time. But if they do nothing, they will be moved over to become Chatr customers soon.

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Created duringthe 2008 spectrum auction along with Wind Mobile and Public Mobile,Mobilicityserves customers in British Columbia,Alberta and Southern Ontario.

But much like other wireless upstarts, Mobilicity's network ran on inferior,sometimesspottyspectrum packets that gave customers slower, less reliable wireless coverage. But the price was right for more than 100,000 users, since Mobilicityoffered prepaid unlimited plans for a fraction of the cost offered by the so-called Big Three.

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The path to Tuesday's announcement started last summer, when Rogers paid $465 million for Mobilicity's customer base, spectrum and retail network, after the smaller company had twice been rebuffed by regulators when Telus tried to do the same thing.

Wind Mobile has since met a similar fate, being bought out by Shaw in a $1.6 billion deal that was finalized earlier this year.

Rogers ported Mobilicity customers on to its network shortly after the deal, although it was still run as an independent entity.

That will soon change, as Rogers will stop new sign-ups to Mobilicity in the near future. Existing customers will be given a range of new plans and pricing options to pick from although the company was short on details in a FAQ to customers on Tuesday.

"Keep using your current plan and we will keep you up-to-date in the coming months as we get closer,"the company said.