The last few months have seen a fierce battle between Cell C and its competitors MTN and Vodacom, over Cell C’s use of the terms 4G and 4Gs.<\/p>\n
Vodacom and MTN lodged complaints against Cell C’s use of the terms 4Gs and 4G with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA), arguing that their “4GS” logo is dishonest and misleading.<\/p>\n
According to Vodacom and MTN, consumers will mistake it to be reference to a ‘4G’ network, a level up from the existing 3G standard.<\/p>\n
At the time of the complaints the term 4G was defined by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as IMT-Advanced. Only two technologies qualified as 4G – LTE Advanced and 802.16m (aka WiMax 2).<\/p>\n
In August 2010, Cell C conceded that it does not have a 4G network, but responded to the ASA complaints saying that ‘4GS’ stands for ‘4 Great Service’ and ‘4 Great Speed,’ in line with its ‘revamp’ of its service delivery.<\/p>\n
The company added that the term could be interpreted to mean that it offers the best data network currently in South Africa.<\/p>\n
The ASA ruled in October 2010 that Cell C’s statements, although reasonable, are ambiguous, and ordered Cell C to remove the term 4Gs from all its advertising and marketing material.<\/p>\n
Cell C vowed to fight the ruling, saying that it amounts to corporate bullying. “It is Cell C’s view that MTN and Vodacom lodged these complaints in an attempt to distract Cell C which has recently established a major competitive advantage in the marketplace,” said Cell C CEO Lars Reichelt.<\/p>\n
Big break for Cell C<\/strong><\/p>\n The battle over the term 4Gs continues, but in a potentially fortunate turn of events for Cell C, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) recently announced that the term 4G may also be applied to the forerunners of IMT-Advanced.<\/p>\n “As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wireless mobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as ‘4G’, although it is recognized that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMax, and to other evolved 3G technologies [like HSPA+],” the ITU said in a press statement.<\/p>\n According to the ITU, technologies such as LTE and WiMax provide a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation (3G) systems now deployed, justifying the use of the term 4G related to these technologies.<\/p>\n This about turn by the ITU turns the battle over the term 4Gs on its head. Cell C may now be able to prove that it has an ‘evolved 3G’ network, and hence qualifies to use the term 4G.<\/p>\n The ITU’s position on the term 4G however does not only influence Cell C’s use of the term 4Gs, but also applies to various international operators which used the term 4G to describe their WiMax, LTE and HSPA+ networks, including Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile.<\/p>\n The new position of the ITU further means that many wireless networks in South Africa may qualify as 4G, including Neotel, iBurst and Telkom’s WiMax networks and Vodacom, MTN and Cell C’s HSPA+ networks.<\/p>\n Not everyone agrees<\/strong><\/p>\n ABI Research analyst Philip Solis told CIO that “the true next generation of mobile came with OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing Access), a fundamental advance over 3G that was embodied in WiMax and LTE.”<\/p>\n While Solis agreed that a wider 4G definition was needed, he feels strongly that HSPA+ can never accurately be called 4G. “It’s a very good, very fast 3G network, but it’s still a 3G network,” Solis told CIO.<\/p>\n Vodacom is also not convinced about the ITU’s apparent backtracking on the term 4G. Despite the recent ITU press statement, Vodacom said that it does not change much.<\/p>\n “From the ITU press statement it is clear the current ITU definition for 4G is still fully aligned with IMT-Advanced,” said Vodacom. “As we know only two technologies were accepted by the ITU as 4G; LTE-Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced.”<\/p>\n “No new definition for IMT-Advanced exists today and thus no technology commercially available today can claim to be 4G. The status quo as determined by the ASA therefore stands and will do so at least till 2012,” Vodacom said.<\/p>\n It is however not clear whether the ITU will actually adapt its IMT-Advanced definition as suggested by Vodacom, or whether the telecoms union simply changed its view on what 4G means to include LTE, WiMax and ‘evolved 3G technologies.’<\/p>\n Despite the uncertainty Cell C will be able to argue that its network provides better speeds than the current WiMax networks (which can now be called 4G networks) in South Africa, and since its HSPA+ network is an ‘evolved 3G technology’ it should be able to use both 4G and 4Gs to describe its network.<\/p>\n Cell C did not provide feedback by the time of publication as to whether the ITU’s recent statement changes its ASA appeal strategy.<\/p>\n