Vodacom is entitled to claim in advertising that it has South Africa’s best network, the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa has ruled, dismissing a complaint from rival MTN.

MTN took umbrage at a Vodacom ad, posted on YouTube, in which it made the claim about its network.

In its complaint, MTN said the ad contains no contextual reference, and it is therefore difficult to ascertain the basis on which the claim is made. While information on Vodacom’s website suggests that the claim is based on speed, the lack of context in the ad means that this is not sufficiently clear, it argued.

It said that irrespective of whether the superiority claim is based on speed, on dropped calls or on overall performance, it is misleading.

Vodacom, through its ad agency, defended the ad, saying its claims are based on verification from a third-party agency, Catalyst Research & Strategy, as well as a letter from speed-test service Ookla.

“The report from Catalyst Research & Strategy states … that Ookla is proven to be the gold standard for network performance measurement, and the Ookla reports relied upon represents a national base with a large number of users doing tests at any time, anywhere in the country, over a very long period, and using their own personal mobile handsets,” the authority said in its ruling.

“The reports submitted by [MTN], on the other hand, tested relatively small geographical areas, used limited testing periods and irrelevant network tests, and made use of poor sample sizes.

“The Catalyst report concludes that Vodacom provides the fastest overall mobile network speed experience to South African customers … and the data from which these conclusions are drawn are real-life data, representative of all the mobile operators across South Africa.

“In light of this, Vodacom’s claim appears to be substantiated… In addition, the directorate is satisfied that the evidence shows that the claim is neither misleading nor dishonest, and the claim therefore does not contravene [the advertising code]. The complaint is dismissed.” — © 2017 NewsCentral Media