Telecommunications (Mobile Broadband)

Advertising on Three.ie stated “Ireland’s leading mobile data network with FREE 4G
access for life Free 4G for life, for all Three customers. … Our 4G network is currently
rolling out across Ireland. To find out if it’s in your area, check our coverage map …
What’s more, we’re rolling out 4G Plus which offers the fastest speeds available on
mobile. With 4G Plus Three customers will be able to enjoy peak speeds of 225 Mbps
for free … As Ireland’s leading mobile data network Three are offering 4G Plus to all
customers with compatible handsets no matter what plan they are on.”

Vodafone Ireland objected to the claim that Three were Ireland’s leading mobile data
network. They said that no substantiation was provided for the claim on Three.ie and
queried on what basis the claim was made. They said their network had been identified
by P3(1) as having Ireland’s best in test mobile data network(2), that ComReg’s
Assessment of Mobile Network Operators’ Compliance with Licence Obligation from
Winter 2015 showed that Vodafone had the best speeds in the Data Speed in Drive
Test(3), and that ComReg’s market share report showed that Vodafone had a higher
market share than three(4).
Vodafone said that they considered that Three were in breach of Section 4.33 of the
ASAI Code in relation to their use of the word ‘leading’.

1 http://www.p3-networkanalytics.com/
2 http://p3-cert.com/ueber-p3/p3-aktuell/latest_certificates/
3 https://www.comreg.ie/publication/assessment-of-mobile-network-operatorsa%C2%80%C2%99-compliance-with-licence-obligationscoverage-
winter-2015/ PAGE 27-28
4 http://www.comreg.ie/csv/downloads/ComReg1617.pdf PAGE 69-70

Three said that their claim was “Ireland’s Leading Mobile Data Network” with an
express reference on the data element. They said that they took the accuracy of their
advertising very seriously and aimed at all times to be in strict compliance with the
Code.
They noted that Section 4.33 of the Code, which was the provision cited by Vodafone
in its complaint, did not preclude the use of the word “leading” in advertisements but
that such claims should be capable of substantiation with market share data or similar
proof by the party making that claim. They said that their claim was substantiated by
the fact that Three’s % share of the total “Other Data Vols” as set out in figure 4.3.1 of
ComReg’s Q4 2015 Quarterly Report(5) was in excess of 50% when the claim was
initially made and again this was substantiated more recently as per ComReg’s Q1
2016 publication where the figure was again in excess of 50%. Therefore they carried
more data than all other mobile networks and mobile service providers (including
MVNO(6) service providers hosted on the Three network) combined.

They explained that each service provider was obligated to report usage data to
ComReg on a quarterly basis. ComReg used this data for its publication. Each service
provider would be able to calculate their own market share % of the total ‘Other Data
Vols’ using the data as submitted. As they were over 50% of the total figure, no other
operator would be able to make this claim or substantiate same.
Three argued that Vodafone claim to have proof of higher speeds or higher consumer
market share were not relevant to the point. They considered that it was a matter for
Three to substantiate the claim it makes (as above) rather than a competitor
demonstrating the benefits of its product or services by way of rebuttal.
They said that Three’s mobile data offering was clearly the most popular in the market
amongst users of mobile data. They rejected any claim that they had contravened the
ASAI Code.
Additionally, the advertisers said that neither the metrics presented by Vodafone or
Three were wrong, they were simply different metrics of comparing mobile data
performance by operators. They considered therefore that it was incorrect to state that
advertisements based on any of the ComReg metric was misleading or not
substantiated.

5 https://www.comreg.ie/csv/downloads/ComReg1617.pdf
6 MVNO – mobile virtual network operator is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless
network infrastructure over which the MVNO provides services to its customers
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_virtual_network_operator)

Conclusion: Complaint Not Upheld

The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’
response.

The Committee noted that the Code did not restrict the use of the word ‘leading’ to a
particular situation. However, the context of the use of the word should not be likely
to mislead. In this case, they noted that the claim ‘Ireland’s leading mobile data
network’ contained the qualifier ‘data’. The Committee considered that consumers
would understand that the claim related solely to ‘data’ rather than to other service
elements of mobile coverage. In the circumstances they did not consider that the
advertisement was in breach of the Code.

ACTION REQUIRED: No further action was required.