The rivalry between Jio and Airtel is growing day by day. Few days back, Jio had lodged a complaint with ASCI against Airtel’s false claim of “Officially India’s fastest network”. Yes, in its claim, the company said that Airtel’s ad of India’s fastest mobile network is false and misleading. The complaint also had a mention of Ookla, the company that awarded this title to Airtel on 24th of February, based on Speedtest results. According to Jio, the results were manipulated. Considering everything, ASCI has given its decision in favor of Jio.
As of now, ASCI has authenticated Jio’s stand. Yes, in an official letter, ASCI has asked Airtel to either modify or withdraw the ad by 11th of April 2017.
This matter was discussed with the FTCC i.e. Fast Track Complaints Committee on the 29th of March and the term “Officially” was found to be misleading, because the results weren’t based on any recognized authority or any government organization. The Advertising Standards Council of India has considered this representation to be “Misleading by ambiguity and implication”.
On the other hand, Bharti Airtel has disagreed to this decision and said,
“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.”
Even Ookla gave a statement which read,
“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.”
Does this decision hint towards Jio’s victory over Airtel? What’s your opinion on this? Share your views in our comments section below.
