Close Menu
TechCentralTechCentral

    Subscribe to the newsletter

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    Facebook X (Twitter) YouTube LinkedIn
    WhatsApp Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentralTechCentral
    • News

      Public money, private plans: MPs demand Post Office transparency

      13 June 2025

      Coal to cash: South Africa gets major boost for energy shift

      13 June 2025

      China is behind in AI chips – but for how much longer?

      13 June 2025

      Singapore soared – why can’t we? Lessons South Africa refuses to learn

      13 June 2025

      10 red flags for Apple investors

      13 June 2025
    • World

      Yahoo tries to make its mail service relevant again

      13 June 2025

      Qualcomm shows off new chip for AI smart glasses

      11 June 2025

      Trump tariffs to dim 2025 smartphone shipments

      4 June 2025

      Shrimp Jesus and the AI ad invasion

      4 June 2025

      Apple slams EU rules as ‘flawed and costly’ in major legal pushback

      2 June 2025
    • In-depth

      Grok promised bias-free chat. Then came the edits

      2 June 2025

      Digital fortress: We go inside JB5, Teraco’s giant new AI-ready data centre

      30 May 2025

      Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s big bet to out-Apple Apple

      22 May 2025

      South Africa unveils big state digital reform programme

      12 May 2025

      Is this the end of Google Search as we know it?

      12 May 2025
    • TCS

      TechCentral Nexus S0E1: Starlink, BEE and a new leader at Vodacom

      8 June 2025

      TCS+ | The future of mobile money, with MTN’s Kagiso Mothibi

      6 June 2025

      TCS+ | AI is more than hype: Workday execs unpack real human impact

      4 June 2025

      TCS | Sentiv, and the story behind the buyout of Altron Nexus

      3 June 2025

      TCS | Signal restored: Unpacking the Blue Label and Cell C turnaround

      28 May 2025
    • Opinion

      Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

      2 June 2025

      South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

      2 June 2025

      Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

      29 May 2025

      Solar panic? The truth about SSEG, fines and municipal rules

      14 April 2025

      Data protection must be crypto industry’s top priority

      9 April 2025
    • Company Hubs
      • Africa Data Centres
      • AfriGIS
      • Altron Digital Business
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Altron Group
      • Arctic Wolf
      • AvertITD
      • Braintree
      • CallMiner
      • CYBER1 Solutions
      • Digicloud Africa
      • Digimune
      • Domains.co.za
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • Incredible Business
      • iONLINE
      • Iris Network Systems
      • LSD Open
      • NEC XON
      • Network Platforms
      • Next DLP
      • Ovations
      • Paracon
      • Paratus
      • Q-KON
      • SkyWire
      • Solid8 Technologies
      • Telit Cinterion
      • Tenable
      • Vertiv
      • Videri Digital
      • Wipro
      • Workday
    • Sections
      • AI and machine learning
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud services
      • Contact centres and CX
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Electronics and hardware
      • Energy and sustainability
      • Enterprise software
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Lifestyle
      • Motoring
      • Public sector
      • Retail and e-commerce
      • Science
      • SMEs and start-ups
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Events
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home » News » Cell C’s anti-MTN ad must go

    Cell C’s anti-MTN ad must go

    By Duncan McLeod7 March 2014
    Twitter LinkedIn Facebook WhatsApp Email Telegram Copy Link
    News Alerts
    WhatsApp

    gavel-640

    The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) has ruled that Cell C must withdraw a radio advertisement that takes aim at rival MTN and its decision to take communications regulator Icasa to court over its final regulations on call termination rates.

    Cell C began flighting the ad on 20 February, soon after MTN filed papers against Icasa at the high court in Johannesburg challenging the regulations, which determine what operators charge each other to carry calls between their networks.

    Icasa is lowering the rates and introducing “asymmetry” that favours Cell C and other smaller market players in an effort to force down retail prices and increase competition in South Africa’s mobile sector.

    Although the radio ad doesn’t name MTN specifically, it’s clear it’s the company Cell C is referring to.

    The radio ad, which can be heard below, states: “Their [MTN’s] lawyers are going to try and get the regulator to change the regulation it has already made. Where will it get the money? Well, if you’re on their network, every time you make a call, or text, or surf the ‘Net, part of the money you pay could be given to the lawyers who are trying to stop these lower rates.”

    However, the ASA has found that Cell C omitted part of the truth about the Icasa regulations and that its ad “paints an incomplete picture of the status quo” and creates a “misleading impression” among consumers.

    The ad, it said, is “framed so as to exploit the lack of knowledge of the consumer, and misleads the consumer by omitting material facts about the regulations and by misrepresenting [MTN’s] actions”. Because it this, Cell C must withdraw it with immediate effect.

    In its complaint to the ASA, MTN, through its advertising agency, argued that termination rates have “nothing to do with rates charged to consumers”.

    “Consumer pricing is affected by the sum of many other complex factors, such as competition, capital investment (or the lack thereof), network quality, quality of experience and device subsidies, etc. The radio commercial gives the false impression that the Icasa regulations will lead to lower prices. The effect of the regulations is to reduce the interconnection charges … and is in no way linked to the consumer’s call rates.”

    It said that the Cell C ad implies that MTN is “greedy and corrupt with no regard for the interests of its customers” and that its decision to take Icasa to court is “motivated solely by greed”.

    “Consumers are manipulated by the emotive and factually incomplete manner in which Cell C is portraying MTN’s review of the 2014 regulations to believe that MTN wants to exploit the consumers for the benefit of making money,” it said in its complaint.

    “MTN is portrayed as not being fair to the consumer, and consumers are therefore encouraged to leave MTN for Cell C.”

    The ad fails to explain that Cell C will be the primary beneficiary of the change in the regulations, and so misrepresents Cell C’s reasons for being in favour of the regulations, it added.

    Listen to Cell C’s radio ad:

    [audio: https://techcentral.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/F-MTN-radio-ad-20.02.14-TechCentral.mp3]

    In response, Cell C, through its agency, argued that Icasa’s “express intention” with the new termination rates is to reduce retail prices and increase market competition.

    It said, too, that it is “a fact” that MTN is paying “high legal fees” for its lawsuit against Icasa given that its legal team working on the case includes its own attorneys, two senior counsel and one junior counsel. “There is nothing indicating that these astute legal minds are acting pro bono,” Cell C said.

    “It is also most likely that, like every company, the money to pay lawyers comes from the company coffers. In the case of MTN, the company coffers are funded by cellphone and data usage charges paid by their customers.”

    Cell C said it “has a duty to ensure that consumers are being told the truth by the industry”.

    “With this in mind, it decided to inform the public of the expensive litigation that is currently underway and that has the ultimate potential outcome of keeping all costs up.”

    Cell C denied that its ad described MTN greedy and corrupt, or that it had no regard for the interests of its customers. It also denied saying, among other things, that MTN is motivated solely by greed and that it wants to exploit consumers for the benefit of making money.

    “While the overall impression of the commercial does not make MTN look very good, this is because the objective facts do not make MTN look very good,” it said.  — (c) 2014 NewsCentral Media



    Advertising Standards Authority ASA Cell C Icasa MTN
    Subscribe to TechCentral Subscribe to TechCentral
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email Copy Link
    Previous ArticleEskom bosses must pay back bonuses: DA
    Next Article Telkom, MTN sign network deal

    Related Posts

    MVNO boom is reshaping South Africa’s mobile market

    12 June 2025

    Capex clash: Vodacom, MTN and Telkom battle over network supremacy

    11 June 2025

    Up to Icasa whether Starlink gets a licence: Malatsi

    11 June 2025
    Company News

    Huawei Watch Fit 4 Series: smarter sensors, sharper design, stronger performance

    13 June 2025

    Change Logic and BankservAfrica set new benchmark with PayShap roll-out

    13 June 2025

    SAPHILA 2025 – transcending with purpose, connection and AI-powered vision

    13 June 2025
    Opinion

    Beyond the box: why IT distribution depends on real partnerships

    2 June 2025

    South Africa’s next crisis? Being offline in an AI-driven world

    2 June 2025

    Digital giants boost South African news media – and get blamed for it

    29 May 2025

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2025 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.