The Advertising Standards Authority Directorate yesterday overturned a ruling by the authority that prevented Vodacom from using the term “broadband”.
Vodacom had been told to remove references to broadband in its advertising in an August ruling. The initial ruling was based on an “expert” study into speeds on Vodacom's 3G network.
Yesterday, this ruling was overturned, after Vodacom submitted studies into its 3G network performance, and the directorate concurred that the complainant may have been experiencing “specific and unique problems”.
The complaint was lodged by Mr A Read, who argued that an advertisement in the Sunday Times, in May, was misleading, because broadband is “generally taken to mean over 32KBps”, whereas Vodacom “consistently delivers less than 20KBps”.
Vodacom's advertisement read: “Get up to 60% more Internet, news, e-mail, music and sport. Now at the fastest broadband speed available. Vodacom introduces up to 60% extra data at the fastest available broadband speed... what's more, our network is now 14.4 HSDPA-enabled. That's more Internet for the entire family...”
The authority said in August that “it appears common cause that to qualify as 'broadband' the respondent's products should consistently deliver at speeds in excess of 32KBps”. It ruled that the term “broadband” cannot be used in Vodacom's advertising because the company had not shown that its network consistently delivered broadband speeds.
A September ruling, based on further information submitted by Vodacom, upheld the August decision as Vodacom's submissions did not provide satisfactory test results.
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