ASCI tells Airtel to modify or withdraw ‘fastest network’ ad

The Advertising Stan dards Council of India (ASCI) has asked Bharti Airtel to “modify” or “withdraw” advertisements that are based on a claim by net work testing agency Ookla LLC and suggested that Airtel is “offi cially India’s fastest network”.

The advertising industry watchdog said the complaint against Airtel was considered by the Fast Track Complaints Com mittee (FTCC) at a meeting held on March 29. “We have advised the advertiser to modify appro priately or to withdraw the said TVC (television commercial) and the website advertisement by 11 April 2017,” ASCI secretary gen eral Shweta Purandare said in a letter to the complainant.

Airtel in a note said it does not agree 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 our campaign is compliant with all guidelines. We will be happy to provide more details, if required and hope ASCI will reconsider its decision,” the company said in a statement.

Ookla stood by its findings. “The award designation was validated using the IP methodol ogy described...for all speed test results during the past six months of 2016 (Q3 and Q4). When analysing the data for all of 2016 Airtel was still the leader. When analysing data for 2017 to date Airtel is still the clear leader. It is worth noting that after correct ing for the Android limitation Airtel’s lead over Jio increases for all aforementioned date ran ges,” it said in a statement.

On March 20, Mukesh Amban i-led Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd filed a complaint with ASCI, urg ing the watchdog to take action on Airtel’s advertisement.

Jio did not respond to an emai seeking comments.

ASCI, in its response, also noted that Airtel’s TVC does not state that the speed results per