A Saskatchewan court has certified a class-action lawsuit that accuses Canadian cell phone companies of profiting from charging customers system access fees over and above their regular service costs. The bogus fees are collected and disclosure is never provided for the 'real' use of the fee other than a massive cash grab. Canadians pay some of the highest prices in the world for cell phone access and this is one of those reasons.



The lawsuit claims "unjust enrichment" because providers make the fees look like they are being charged by federal regulators or going to maintain the system when they are really going to the companies and their bottom lines, or os says the lawsuit.

Major providers include Rogers, Bell and Telus. The charge is apparently not an add-on charge, not given to the government, wasn't used to maintain the system. It was just an additional charge over and above the charge that they provide.

Messages left at Rogers and Telus were not immediately returned. A spokesman for Bell said the company does not discuss matters that are before the courts.

The fees, which until recently were all $6.95 a month, were required two decades ago when the cellular phone industry was in its infancy, Merchant said, but they no longer exist.

Estimates that companies make more than $1.2 billion annually charging the extra money to Canada's 15 million cellphone users. He puts the value of the lawsuit at more than $12 billion, plus interest, which has been collected in customer charges over the years.

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