Airtel ads with ‘Fastest Network in India’ claim, ruled misleading by ASCI

Airtel's ads, which claimed it was the fastest network in India, have been ruled misleading by the ASCI

Airtel, Airtel vs Reliance Jio, Reliance Jio ASCI, ASCI Jio, Airtel Fastest Network Ad, Airtel Ad misleading, Airtel Ookla speedtest, Airtel Speedtest, Airtel test, mobile networks, technology, technology news

Airtel vs Reliance Jio: Airtel’s ads, which claimed it was the fastest network in India, have been ruled misleading by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and the company has been asked to remove these ads.

Airtel’s ads, which claimed it was the fastest network in India, have been ruled misleading by the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) and the company has been asked to remove these ads. ASCI has ruled in favour of Reliance Jio in the war against Airtel over the ad.

Earlier Reliance Jio had filed a complaint with ASCI saying that Airtel’s claim of being the fastest network in the country was incorrect. It had said that Airtel was basing this on third-party Ookla’s Speedtest, which was flawed. Both Airtel and Ookla has issued statements saying they don’t agree with ASCI’s decision.

“We do not agree with ASCI’s decision and will file an appeal as per guidelines. Our campaign is based on findings by Ookla – the globally recognised leader in mobile speed tests and also a benchmark for reputed global operators. We have shared all supporting facts with ASCI and strongly believe that our campaign is compliant with all guidelines. We will be happy to provide more details, if required, and hope ASCI will reconsider its decision,” said Airtel in a statement.

Ookla, the company behind SpeedTest, which is one of the most popular apps and websites for testing internet speeds, has also said it stands by the results around Airtel.

“Ookla fully stands behind the accuracy and reliability of the methodology used to designate Airtel as ‘India’s Fastest Mobile Network’. The award designation was validated using the IP methodology described above for all Speedtest results during the last 6 months of 2016 (Q3 & Q4). When analyzing the data for all of 2016, Airtel was still the clear leader. When analyzing data for 2017 to date, Airtel is still the clear leader. It is worth noting that after correcting for the Android limitation, Airtel’s lead over Jio increases for all aforementioned date ranges,” said Ookla in a press statement.

According to ASCI’s decision however, while Airtel gave an Ookla certificate they did not elaborate on the “explicit test methodology to substantiate that the method is robust to capture that the sample.” It also said there was no proof the method was “representative and comparable across operators, geographies and consumers.”

ASCI also said that there is a significant gap between geographical dispersion of Airtel and Jio 4G subscribers, which could impact the comparison. Based on this data, the advertising body concluded the claim was not adequately substantiated.

Story continues below this ad

ASCI also called the term ‘Officially’ as misleading, since the test was not done by any government organisation or recognised authority like TRAI.

Airtel has been asked to modify or withdraw the TVC and the website advertisement by April 11.