Bharti Airtel Says Reliance Jio Trying To Malign Its Brand
Airtel and Reliance Jio continue their banter over the “fastest mobile network” ad.
Bharti Airtel Ltd. said its claim of being the fastest mobile network was based on data speed tests and rival Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. was spreading “misinformation” by calling it misleading.
“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,” Airtel’s Chief Brand Officer Rajiv Mathrani said in a statement.
Airtel and Reliance Jio have been locked in a war of words for months over data connectivity points and number portability. Competition in India’s telecom sector will only increase as Idea Cellular Ltd. and Vodafone India have agreed to merge to create the country’s largest telecom operator, displacing Airtel.
Airtel’s recent advertisement campaign is based on the findings of speed test and diagnostic agency Ookla, the company said in a statement.
The agency took parameters such as dual sim devices, network technology and device types into consideration while computing the data from third and fourth quarter of 2016, Ookla said in the statement.
The Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has filed a complaint with the advertisement watchdog Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), claiming that Ookla charges money for its tests and had approached Jio with a similar study for April to September 2016, which showed that Reliance Jio was faster.
TRAI Data
A download speed test conducted by the regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) showed that Reliance Jio had the fastest data network from December last year to February. Airtel’s data speed was slower than Vodafone and Idea Cellular, according to TRAI.
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In terms of upload speed, Idea Cellular beat Reliance Jio for the first spot. Vodafone came third, followed by Airtel at the fourth spot.