Rogers CEO to get award, but customers not cheering
July 3rd, 2008 | by admin |By Wojtek Dabrowski
TORONTO, July 3 (Reuters) - Ted Rogers, chief executive ofCanadian cable and telecom giant Rogers Communications Inc(RCIb.TO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), was named to a prestigious lifetime achievementaward on Thursday, but some of his customers weren’t cheering.
Rogers was named recipient of the Ernst & YoungEntrepreneur Of The Year 2008 Ontario Lifetime AchievementAward and will be presented with it at a banquet in October.
Rogers is well-regarded in corporate Canada as a savvy andshrewd executive. But recently, the CEO of the company thatowns Canada’s biggest wireless-phone carrier has been receivinglittle praise from customers.
Behind the discontent are the prices Rogers plans to chargewhen it rolls out Apple Inc’s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 3G iPhone on July 11.The plans Rogers is offering — ranging from C$60 to C$115 amonth before any taxes or additional service fees are included– are being called egregious.
An anti-Rogers protest website called www.ruinediphone.comthat had about 300 electronic signatures last Friday now hasmore than 30,000.
“Two thumbs up on not caring about your customers,” wroteone complainer. “Keep up the greed!”
A common complaint centers on how expensive the plans arecompared with rates being offered by AT&T (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in the UnitedStates and the fact that there is no unlimited data planavailable.
“At one point I was excited for the iPhone, but afterseeing these rates I realize it is something the commonconsumer will never be able to afford,” another protester wroteon the website. “It should be re-named the aPhone for’affluent’.”
