{"id":15658,"date":"2010-10-07T09:39:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-07T07:39:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-06-08T11:17:28","modified_gmt":"2011-06-08T09:17:28","slug":"cell-c-4gs-network-claims-found-ambiguous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadband\/15658-cell-c-4gs-network-claims-found-ambiguous.html","title":{"rendered":"Cell C 4Gs network claims found \u2018ambiguous’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cell C yesterday launched their 21 Mbps HSPA+ services in Durban and Pietermaritzburg<\/a>, following their new network rollouts in PE, Bloemfontein, East London<\/a> and Cape Town.<\/p>\n

To the delight of consumers Cell C has not only launched fast mobile broadband offerings \u2013 up to 21 Mbps \u2013 but has also slashed the price of mobile broadband data.<\/p>\n

However, one contentious issue still hangs over the company – their insistence on using the term 4G<\/strong><\/a> (later changed to 4Gs) to describe their network.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s 21 Mbps HSPA+ network is a 3.75G network<\/a>, and the term 4G is reserved for LTE Advanced and the next generation of Mobile WiMax (802.16m).<\/p>\n

Vodacom and MTN laid complaints with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) about Cell C\u2019s use of the term 4G (and 4Gs), and the authority recently ruled that Cell C\u2019s use of the term 4Gs is indeed ambiguous.<\/p>\n

In a press statement the ASA said that \u201cComplaints from both competitors as well as consumers stated that the \u201c4GS\u201d logo is dishonest and misleading and that consumers will mistake it to be reference to the \u201c4G\u201d standard network, a level up from the existing 3G standard, especially so as the \u201cs\u201d in \u201c4GS\u201d is extremely small.<\/p>\n

Cell C in turn submitted that \u201c4GS\u201d stands for \u201c4 Great Service\u201d and \u201c4 Great Speed,\u201d in line with its \u201crevamp\u201d of its service delivery. Interestingly it also argues the converse; that the term could be interpreted to mean that it offers the best data network currently in South Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese statements, although reasonable, are found to be ambiguous,\u201d the ASA said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is true that Cell C has a notice on its website indicating what \u201c4GS\u201d stands for, this is of no consequence to either its print or television advertising. \u201cAdvertising on one medium cannot be relied on to clear up ambiguity created in another,\u201d says Corn\u00e9 Koch, Communications Manager of the ASA.<\/p>\n

The Directorate further rejected substantiation provided for the claims; \u201cThey are supposedly building the first 4GS network in the Southern Hemisphere\u201d and \u201cCell C are building a 4GS network that is apparently the most advanced in the Southern Hemisphere.\u201d<\/p>\n

These claims, together with the unqualified and ambiguous \u201c4GS\u201d must be withdrawn with immediate effect on receipt of the ruling\u201d, added Koch.<\/p>\n

Cell C 4Gs network claims found \u2018ambiguous’<\/strong><\/a> << What do you think?\u00a0 Vote in our poll!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ASA has upheld complaints from Vodacom and MTN about Cell C\u2019s new \u201c4GS\u201d advertising campaign<\/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-15658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-broadband"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15658"}],"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=15658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}