The saga continues. After Reliance Jio claiming that Bharti Airtel's advertisements about fastest telecom network of India are misleading and incorrect, Airtel has hit back at Jio, and the interesting part is speed test service, Ookla also came out with their saying on the allegation.
In the statement issued by Bharti Airtel, Rajiv Mathrani, Chief Brand Officer quoted as follows “Airtel is one of the most trusted and admired brands in India. We also pride ourselves in maintaining the highest standards of governance and transparency and have been recognised by globally reputed institutions like Transparency International."
"Our latest advertising campaign is based on the findings by Ookla, the global leader in Speed test and internet diagnostics. Ookla’s findings are based on rigorous and extensive testing across millions of devices and employ the best of data analytics. We are rather amused by the allegations being made against our campaign. We believe that this is a deliberate attempt to malign our brand and misguide customers through a campaign of misinformation, which is something we now come across on a regular basis, in particular, on social media platforms,” he further added.
"Ookla named Airtel as the “Fastest Mobile Network” in India based on data from Q3 and Q4 of 2016. When analysing markets, like India, we take many factors into consideration, including dual SIM devices, network technology, device types, and more. In addition to what the user sees on their mobile application as they take a test in real-time, we apply a rigorous methodology when aggregating the data which uses a variety of internal data sources that control for potential variability in the market," Jamie Steven, COO, Speedtest by Ookla.
Steven also confirmed that they are staying with their decision of titling Airtel as the 'Fastest Mobile Network' of India He further added "We are always improving how additional information is collected and analyzed through our Speedtest applications to allow Ookla to reflect internet performance accurately. We have taken dual SIM information into consideration and fully stand behind Airtel being named “India’s Fastest Mobile Network.” India is a dynamic market with a rapidly changing mobile landscape, and we look forward to seeing how the market develops."
Having said that, there's no reply from Reliance Jio as of now, but the new entrant will not hold back and will surely come out with a response, and the matter only gets interesting from now.