In view of the consumer complaints regarding Airtel’s 4G ad campaign where the operator challenges subscribers to find a faster network than it’s own and get their lifetime bills paid by Airtel, the ad campaign was thoroughly scrutinised by the ‘Advertising standards council of India’ (ASCI). After reviewing the supporting evidence provided by Airtel in its defence, the ASCI found that Airtel’s ads were grossly misleading and ordered the operator to stop airing the TV commercial as well as refrain from publishing the ad in print media from 7th October onwards or raise the issue for further review with ASCI with more supporting evidence.

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As the only commercial providers of this world class technology in India, our advertising campaign revolves around the 4G promise of fastest internet speeds and features, a set of claims that are based on rigorous test conditions” An Airtel spokesperson said. “We are engaging with ASCI to provide them technical data in support of our advertising claims and are following the prescribed process to schedule a review of the said issue. We are confident of getting a favourable response from them” he added.

The complaint was considered by the Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) at their meeting. As per their decision, the complaint was upheld. The CCC viewed the print advertisement and considered the Advertiser’s response as well as the opinion of the technical expert presented at the meeting. The supporting documents provided by the advertiser do not mention “fastest network”. The Annexure I clarifies that the numbers are meant to be taken as such only in favourable conditions and also states that the average rates are lower than this peak rate and are difficult to predict because they depend on a multitude of operational and network factors.