India's high-flying telecom operator Reliance Jio, in July 2017 signed a petition against Bharti Airtel and speed test service Ookla because of multiple Airtel TV ads claimed the network as India's fastest network. Reliance Jio had some issues with the advertisements because it believes that Airtel is not the fastest network of India, and they are indeed losing money and reputation due to the advertisements.
Today, a report from Economic Times claims that a Mumbai court has dismissed the petition of Reliance Jio on Airtel and Ookla. "In his July 27 order, metropolitan magistrate KG Paldewar said the complaint was devoid of merit as the charges brought up in it did not tantamount to a case of loss of money, defamation, conspiracy or breach of trust," says the report.
"Ookla is an independent company and not an authority under the law; so it can give its certification using its methodology as accepted by Airtel, the court said. This certification alone “does not amount to any wrongful loss to the complainant or public at large”, it further added.
Furthermore, the publication approached both Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, but Jio did not respond. An Airtel spokesperson has commented on the development as "Bharti Airtel takes great pride in maintaining the highest standards of ethics and compliance."
As said earlier, Jio signed a petition last month claiming that it has lost reputation and money because of the Airtel's fastest network ads by Bharti Airtel. Jio also said that the act from Airtel 'accounted to conspiracy, defamation and breach of trust, among others.'
"If complainant has found any flaws in the test methodology of No 3 (Ookla), that does not mean that certification by accused No 3 (Ookla) is apparently dishonest” or that “the award issued by the accused No 3 in favour of accused No 1 (Airtel) is collusion," the court stated in its judgment.
Jio even accused Ookla because it tried to sell its speed test report for $120,000, but Jio denied to purchase the report. On this basis, Jio accused Ookla of selling the false data to Bharti Airtel.
The court further added that these advertisements from Bharti Airtel are just 'marketing policy,' to expand the operator's business, and there's no way it causes losses to Jio.
