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ASA ruling: Vodacom's network has least dropped calls

Paula Gilbert
By Paula Gilbert, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Johannesburg, 08 Feb 2017
Data showed Vodacom achieved a national average dropped call rate below that of all other operators.
Data showed Vodacom achieved a national average dropped call rate below that of all other operators.

Vodacom is the mobile network with the least dropped calls, according to a ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA).

This after MTN's lawyers approached the ASA to challenge two Vodacom television commercials which featured the slogan "switch to SA's best network with the least dropped calls".

MTN argued Vodacom was making "unsubstantiated and misleading superiority claims about its network and dropped call rates, which in turn contravene the ASA code". MTN claimed it is currently on par with Vodacom at a dropped call rate of only 0.4%.

Vodacom, however, used a report from Catalyst Research & Strategy to support its claim that it is the network with the least dropped calls. The Catalyst report was based on data obtained from ATIO and P3, and this data led the ASA to decide to dismiss MTN's complaint.

"According to the data from ATIO, for the period from February 2016 to November 2016, Vodacom consistently had less dropped calls than MTN for 3G-preferred and 4G-preferred voice calls," the ASA ruling reads.

During that same period, Vodacom achieved a national average dropped call rate below that of MTN and all the other mobile operators.

"Vodacom achieved an average dropped call rate of 0.35%. This is more than 54% better than the closest competitor, MTN, which achieved an average dropped call rate of 0.77%."

According to data from P3, Vodacom achieved an overall dropped call rate of 0.9%, while MTN achieved a dropped call rate of 2.8%.

The report therefore concluded Vodacom has the network with the least dropped calls. The ASA agreed, saying it was satisfied the evidence shows Vodacom's claim is "neither misleading nor dishonest" and did not contravene the ASA code.

The decision came after the ASA ruled in December 2016 that Vodacom may continue to use its claim of having the "first and best 4G network" in SA after another complaint by MTN.

"We're thrilled at the latest ruling by the ASA as it affirms our promise to keep our customers confidently connected and we have been able to do so for over two decades through consistent investment on our network," Vodacom Group CTO Andries Delport told ITWeb via e-mail.

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