Cell C has won the latest round in its ongoing skirmishes with MTN at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
SA’s cellular operators have been gunning for each other since Cell C launched its new advertising campaign. MTN and Vodacom took Cell C to the authority over its use of the term “4Gs”, saying it would make customers think it was a fourth-generation mobile network.
The ASA ruled that Cell C had to remove the term from its advertising campaign.
The latest complaints, from Cell C, were about two campaigns launched by MTN. Both related to MTN’s use of the phrase “world-class Internet”. In its complaint, Cell C says MTN should not be allowed to use the term “world-class” in its campaign.
Using services like speedtest.net, Cell C argued that MTN was the second slowest provider in SA, saying it couldn’t claim to have “world-class” Internet at those speeds.
MTN responded saying that although SA broadband speeds were not be as high as some places in the world, the technology it had deployed across its network was world-class.
The company’s legal team used a Wikipedia article to show that most countries around the world only started to deploy evolved high-speed packet access (HSPA+) technologies in their networks in late 2009 and 2010, suggesting MTN had kept pace.
However, the ASA was not convinced and told MTN to withdraw the claim from its campaign or find more evidence to substantiate its claims.
The second complaint related to MTN’s advertisement of its new HSPA+ service, which it is calling “Ayoba 21,1 HSPA+”.
Cell C argued that the term was ambiguous and the customer could be fooled into believing the service offered speeds of 21,1Mbits/s. Cell C also said MTN needed to prove its network is capable of HSPA+.
MTN responded that the term was the name of the product and it did not have to substantiate the speed claim. It said a disclaimer alongside the advertisement made it clear the customer should not expect speeds of 21,1Mbits/s.
The ASA ruled that MTN’s use of “21,1” in its campaign was ambiguous and the company was told to remove it. However, MTN managed to prove its service is built on HSPA+ technology and has been allowed to keep that aspect of its advertising. — Staff reporter, TechCentral
- Image: Birge5000
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