Cell C 4Gs appeal dismissed
The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) has dismissed Cell C’s appeal to use the 4Gs logo that it introduced when launching its HSPA+ network (now called “Whooosh”).
In October 2010, Vodacom, MTN, and two consumers brought an advertising complaint against Cell C’s use of a logo containing the stylised characters “4Gs” in a circle.
The ASA ruled that the use of the term 4Gs was unqualified and ambiguous and ordered Cell C to withdraw the advertising immediately.
This would prove to be a significant undertaking for the operator due to the amount of outdoor advertisements it placed and Cell C opted to replace the 4Gs logo with a badge showing off its 2010 Mobile Broadband Service of the Year award from the MyBroadband community.
Cell C 4Gs
Appeal
Cell C appealed the ruling, submitting that there is no ambiguity as they never marketed their network as “4G” but only as “4Gs”.
They further argued that according to international standards they actually do have a 4G network, citing a press statement by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) from December 2010 and the fact that various manufacturers market their HSPA+ equipment as “4G”.
ASA ruling
In its ruling, the ASA said that submissions from Vodacom and MTN, which include press releases from Cell C and articles from Business Day and MyBroadband, showed that Cell C did in fact market their network as 4G initially.
According to the ASA there is a “very strong likelihood” that Cell C’s original advertising would have been “4G” and not “4Gs.”
“It was only after criticism from the industry and technologically savvy consumers, and after admitting that its use of the 4G logo had created confusion, that Cell C changed the logo to the 4Gs logo now in issue by inserting the small ‘s’ into the logo,” the ASA ruling said.
The ASA added the ITU press release referred to makes it clear that the union considers IMT-Advanced, a technology family not yet commercially available, to be “real 4G” technologies. The fact that certain operators around the world use the term to market their “not quite 4G” networks as 4G does not help Cell C’s case.
A “hypothetical average reasonable consumer” would interpret the 4Gs logo as referring to a 4G network, the ASA said, upholding the ASA Directorate’s original ruling that found it ambiguous.
With the above in mind, the appeal was dismissed.
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