Telkom recently advertised their Do Broadband service on their website, stating that “Do Broadband not only gives you enough speed and reliability to make sure you can play against the best gamers from all over the world, but you now also have the best gaming portal at your fingertips.”
This advertisement did not go down well with Mr Roseveare who lodged a consumer complaint with the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASA) against Telkom’s internet advertising.
According to Roseveare Telkom’s advert is misleading because its broadband network is so unreliable and faulty that at least 15% of the people disconnect constantly during online gaming. “The advertising creates the expectation that Telkom offers enough speed and reliability to comfortably game online, which is not true,” said Roseveare.
Telkom apologized for any misrepresentation to its customers regarding the speed and reliability of its advertisement, offering to amend the wording by deleting the words “enough speed and reliability” and inserting “best possible speed and reliability”.
Telkom added that the Do Broadband value position is “dimensional and structured in a way that it will provide a more than adequate platform to enable gamers to compete with other gamers all over the world. Unfortunately, there are no guarantees over the internet”. Telkom further said that it can only guarantee the quality of its own network and that it cannot provide the same guarantee over the internet which uses multiple links.
The ASA rejected Telkom’s proposed amendment to its advertising, saying that a reasonable person is still likely to expect to have speed and reliability as good as, or better than the international standard. “This appears neither true nor what the respondent intends to communicate,” the ASA said.
“In light of the fact that this proposed amendment is rejected, and given the nature of the argument put out above, it is clear that the original claim was also not true,” the ASA continued.
The ASA found that Telkom’s claims are indeed misleading, should be withdrawn with immediate effect and may not be used again in future.
Article courtesy of MyBroadband
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