Vodafone has admitted misleading customers in the promotion of internet service Vodafone Live.
The Commerce Commission's case that Vodafone misled customers about the cost of using its Vodafone Live mobile internet service between May 23, 2007 and July 28, 2008, was heard in Auckland District Court yesterday.
Commission lawyer Nick Flanagan said customers had thought they had been accessing services on Vodafone Live for free and had been within a "walled garden", when in fact they had been using and paying for the wider internet, The Dominion Post reported.
Vodafone charged $11.25 a megabyte to customers who accessed external websites, resulting in customers receiving bills for hundreds of dollars, in one case more than $1000.
Vodfafone lawyer Bruce Gray QC said the company had pleaded guilty to the charges and apologised to customers and to the court.
The company acknowledged "serious offending" and faced a fine of hundreds of thousands of dollars, he said.
Judge Roderick Joyce set sentencing for July 29.
