The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) has dismissed another complaint from MTN against Vodacom\u2019s \u201cSouth Africa\u2019s Best Network\u201d claim.<\/p>\n
Vodacom based its claim on MyBroadband\u2019s speed test data, which shows the operator outperformed MTN, Cell C, and Telkom on average download speeds.<\/p>\n
MTN\u2019s complaint argued that Ookla\u2019s speed test data shows its mobile speeds are on par with Vodacom, negating Vodacom\u2019s network superiority claim.<\/p>\n
MTN added that Vodacom should not be allowed to use MyBroadband\u2019s speed test results to substantiate its claim.<\/p>\n
\u201cVodacom\u2019s claims should be supported by Ookla data, rather than MyBroadband data, failing which, the claim would not only be unsubstantiated, but misleading,\u201d said MTN.<\/p>\n
The statement from MTN that Vodacom should not use MyBroadband data is strange, as MTN has used MyBroadband’s speed test data in its advertisements.<\/p>\n
Vodacom hit back, showing that MyBroadband and Ookla use similar testing methodologies, run their software on the same smartphones, and collect the same network performance metrics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMyBroadband\u2019s statistics are valid and representative, and its sample size and level of statistical significance justify the conclusions reached,\u201d said Vodacom.<\/p>\n
A third-party report by Catalyst Research & Strategy, a SAMRA-accredited entity, showed that MyBroadband\u2019s speed test results were accurate and in line with industry standards.<\/p>\n
The Catalyst Research & Strategy report stated:<\/p>\n
The ASA dismissed MTN\u2019s argument that MyBroadband\u2019s data should not be used to make mobile network claims.<\/p>\n
The ASA said Vodacom\u2019s \u201cSA\u2019s Best Network\u201d claim is therefore justified when using MyBroadband\u2019s speed test results.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn light of this, Vodacom\u2019s advertising is neither misleading, nor exploitative of the credulity of consumers,\u201d said the ASA.<\/p>\n
The ASA dismissed MTN\u2019s complaint.<\/p>\n
MTN has lost another ASA fight against Vodacom in the battle for “best network” in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":200194,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[351,41264,35,42,41],"class_list":["post-219850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cellular","tag-asa","tag-best-network","tag-headline","tag-mtn","tag-vodacom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219850"}],"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=219850"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219850\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219882,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219850\/revisions\/219882"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}