MTN ‘World Class Internet’ – Not so, says ASA
Cell C has shaken up the South African mobile broadband market with their 21 Mbps HSPA+ network rollout and aggressively priced data offerings.
Many consumers expected a price war to ensue with Vodacom and MTN taking on Cell C’s data pricing, but instead the real battle took place at the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa rather than the mobile broadband market.
Vodacom and MTN were successful in preventing Cell C from continued use of the term 4Gs in their broadband advertising, but Cell C has now hit back with its own complaint against MTN’s claims of offering World Class Internet.
Cell complaint against MTN
Clear Copy, on behalf of Cell C, lodged a competitor complaint against two MTN print advertisements punting the quality of its mobile broadband access.
The first advertisement is headed “Get World-class Internet on your smartphone” while the second advertisement read “We didn’t just build a World-class network for the 2010 World Cup, we built it for you and your smartphone” and stated “This is World-class Internet.”
Cell C disputed the claims that the MTN Network and MTN internet is “World Class” arguing that Ookla’s Netindex.com service shows that South Africa was ranked 86th in the world on internet speeds, and that MTN achieves merely average speeds within the South African context.
“MTN is in fact the 2nd slowest provider. In addition, it only ranks 2.6 stars in terms of customer satisfaction,” Cell C said.
“The speeds for the top 10 countries worldwide are between 17.49 and 35.95 Mbps. The speeds for the top 10 cities are between 40.33 Mbps and 22.35 Mbps. In contrast, MTN is currently achieving 1.99 Mbps,” Cell C said.
Cell C said that it is clear that MTN simply cannot claim that it provides internet at a quality or standard that would be considered high or among the best throughout the world, and their claims are therefore unfounded.
MTN responds
Webber Wentzel attorneys, on behalf of MTN, responded saying that the cellular provider has rolled out 21.1 HSPA+ technology onto its network, arguing that MTN’s technology deployment strategy is in line with the strategy adopted by other countries around the world.
MTN further argued that, while it may be correct that South Africa’s internet speeds are not the fastest in the world, it is incorrect to suggest that the technology adopted by mobile entities within South Africa is not in line with that of other countries around the world.
MTN also said that the term “word class” is by its very nature a subjective term, and that the factors taken into account when determining whether something is “world class” will, more often than not, differ from one person to another.
ASA ruling
The ASA said in its ruling that an advertiser must hold documentary evidence to support all claims that are capable of objective substantiation. “Advertisements should not contain any statement or visual presentation which is likely to mislead the consumer,” the ASA said.
When it comes to the MTN’s claim of “Get World-class Internet on your smartphone” the ASA said that there appears to be nothing in the advertisement to suggest that the term “World-class Internet” refers to Internet speed or service. This complaint was subsequently dismissed.
Not so lucky for MTN when it came to claims about its Internet speeds though, where the company stated “We didn’t just build a World-class network for the 2010 World Cup, we built it for you and your smartphone” and “This is World-class Internet”.
Here the ASA said that the claims “World-class network” and “World-class Internet” are qualified by the claim “this [network] upgrade would give you faster email, quicker online banking, Facebook and much more.”
“This is a claim capable of objective substantiation. MTN would have to show that the internet speeds provided by its network are of a standard that would be considered high or among the best throughout the world,” said the ASA.
According to the ASA MTN has not submitted any evidence that supports the claim that its internet network speed is of such a standard that it would be considered high or among the best throughout the world.
The ASA said that MTN’s “World-class network” and “World-class Internet” claims are currently unsubstantiated.
The ASA hence upheld Cell C’s complaint and ordered MTN to withdraw its advertising which contains the ‘world class’ claims, adding that the claims may not be used again in their current format until new substantiation has been submitted.
MTN ‘World Class Internet’ – Not so, says ASA << Comments and views
Loading ...