current definition of broadband in South Africa<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe ASA was unimpressed and ruled that the mobile provider must withdraw the general reference to broadband with immediate effect and is not allowed to make such a general reference until \u201cnew substantiation has been submitted, evaluated, and a new ruling is made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vodacom decided to take another stab at this ruling with another Cyest report (which showed that 93.05% of a comprehensive test across the entire Vodacom network exceeded the benchmark speed of 256 Kb\/s), arguing that where 80% of the user base experienced coverage compliance it was previously deemed to be \u2018substantiated,\u2019 \u2018not misleading\u2019 and \u2018not insignificant\u2019 by the ASA.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether with the results of the three datasets as referred to above, we can conclude that due to Vodacom far exceeding the 80% benchmark, Vodacom\u2019s \u2018Broadband\u2019 offering can be regarded as broadband in terms of accepted expectations,\u201d Vodacom said.<\/p>\n
The ASA remained unconvinced. In this ruling it said that Cyest was not SAMRA accredited or approved which effectively disqualifies its survey findings. \u201cAccordingly, any reference to broadband in [Vodacom\u2019s] advertisements is still not substantiated,\u201d said the ASA.<\/p>\n
This ruling however affects MTN and Cell C as well. Both of these operators face the same challenges as Vodacom in their use of the term broadband.<\/p>\n
Broadband claims from mobile providers<\/strong><\/p>\nVodacom continues to market its Internet access as broadband. Its website states that with \u201cVodacom Broadband you can connect to the Internet with any computer connected to a 3G-enabled modem, or 3G-enabled cellphone at high data speeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vodacom continues with a statement which may well lead to an ASA complaint in future: \u201cWithout a doubt, you\u2019ll get more Broadband for your Rand when you choose Vodacom Broadband.\u201d After Cell C\u2019s affordable HSPA+ offerings this statement may have to be revised.<\/p>\n
MTN, like Vodacom, is also marketing its Internet access as MTN Broadband. The company\u2019s website states that \u201cBy using MTN Broadband, you get high speed Broadband Internet access through our integrated network of HSDPA, HSUPA, 3G and EDGE technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cell C goes one step further than calling its newly launched HSPA+ service broadband, and promises subscribers “up to 4G speeds.”<\/p>\n
In its data guide, Cell C states that \u201cMobile Broadband from Cell C is powered by new generation mobile broadband technology (GPRS\/EDGE\/3G\/HSPA+) offering up to 4G speeds.\u201d<\/p>\n
The way forward<\/strong><\/p>\nIt is clearly going to be an uphill battle for mobile providers to advertise their service using either speed guidelines or the term broadband.\u00a0 The ASA rulings regarding these claims may however start to hurt consumers rather than assist them.<\/p>\n
It is desirable that consumers know exactly what they purchase, and while maximum technology speed claims may be misleading, it is of value to know what technology you will use to connect to a network.<\/p>\n
Telkom has already succeeded in having an ASA broadband speed ruling overturned which allows it to advertise its services as \u2018up to 384 Kbps\u2019 or \u2018up to 10 Mbps\u2019 \u2013 giving a rough estimate of maximum speeds on the network.<\/p>\n
In the absence of speed claims, mobile providers currently resort to technology descriptions like HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+ and even 4Gs. It may help everyone if they can just stipulate the technology and maximum speeds associated with these technologies in certain regions.<\/p>\n
This issue is far from over. Vodacom and MTN challenged Cell C\u2019s 4G and 4Gs claims, and both MTN and Cell C will now have to reconsider its use of the term broadband in its promotional materials.<\/p>\n
No broadband for Vodacom: ASA<\/a> <\/strong><< Comments and views<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ASA rules that Vodacom may not use the term \u2018broadband\u2019 in its advertising, but what does that mean for other broadband providers?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadband"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15599"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15599\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}