Virgin complaint over Magnet advert fails

INTERNET and television provider Virgin Media has failed to get an advertising complaint upheld against competitor Magnet Networks. A number of months ago, Virgin Media objected to a claim in Magnet’s ads that it was “Ireland’s largest connectivity network”, which Virgin “considered to be untrue and misleading”.

Magnet responded by saying that it was the first provider to grant “one-stop access to all business options” offered by every major network operator in Ireland.

In a finding, the Advertising Standards Authority for Ireland (ASAI) said it understood the claim was that consumers were offered a larger connectivity network than by other providers.

This was because it had its own connectivity network — which was not offered on the wholesale market — together with wholesale agreements it had in place with other networks.

“The (ASAI) committee did not consider that it was misleading per se to base a connectivity network claim on a combined offering. In the circumstances, the committee did not consider that the claim was in breach of the code,” it concluded.

The ASAI introduced new guidelines for broadband ads in August.

A spokeswoman for Virgin said more detail on the interpretation of the guidelines would be welcome.