ISP Dodo has been forced to shell out $26,400 after being pinged by the competition watchdog over advertisements for its unlimited ADSL2+ broadband services.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it issued four infringement notices to Dodo over advertisements it believed were misleading.
The ACCC claimed the advertisements did not make it clear that a $39.90 a month unlimited broadband plan could only be purchased in a bundle with a telephone line that cost an extra $29.90 a month.
The regulator issued four infringement notices for $6,600 – one for each type of media the advertisements ran on.
Acting ACCC chairman Michael Schaper issued a warning to other ISPs against using the same price tactics.
"Traders risk breaching the Act if they selectively quote monthly component prices as the headlines in advertising campaigns without appropriately disclosing the actual total monthly cost to a consumer," Schaper said.
"To prominently advertise the price of only one component and bury the total bundled price in the fine print is misleading."
The ACCC gained the power to issue infringement notices up to $6,600 for corporations in April last year.