Victory For Reliance Jio? Airtel Asked To Pull Down 'Fastest Network' Claim Ad By ASCI

Last week, Reliance Jio had complained against Bharti Airtel’s alleged misleading claim that it was "India’s fastest mobile carrier," and now Jio’s stand is vindicated by the ASCI.

The award given to Airtel by Ookla Speedtest

Reliance Jio had said in its complaint against Bharti Airtel that its claim of being the fastest mobile internet carrier in the country was “false, misleading, and incorrect”. The title was supposedly awarded to Airtel at the Speedtest by Ookla 2016 Awards on February 24.

In an official letter, which is in possession of Indiatimes, the Advertising Standards Council Of India (ASCI) has grounded Airtel’s claim, considering “this representation to be misleading by ambiguity and implication.”

The ACSI has further asked Airtel to either modify or withdraw the advertising by 11th April 2017.

The ASCI further said in its letter that its “FTCC (Fast Track Complaints Committee) also considered the term “Officially” to be misleading as this test is not based on any government organization or recognized authority such as TRAI in this category and hence, exploits consumers’ lack of knowledge.”

Reuters

The Mukesh Ambani-led firm had alleged that Ookla, the owner of Speedtest app, charges money for giving such awards and the company has also approached Jio for the same for the very quarter it issued the certificate of fastest mobile network to Bharti Airtel.

Why all this drama? Reliance Jio believes it's the fastest network in India and it takes the mantle very seriously, for obvious reasons!

UPDATE: Responding to the ASCI letter, Bharti Airtel had the following statement to make

"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."

Statement from Ookla:

"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."