Cellnet complaint to ASA reignites war of words

Cellnet has reignited the bitter war of words between the mobile phone operators by making a fresh complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority over comparative advertising.

The complaint was lodged on July 3, before last week’s High Court decision threw out a complaint from Vodafone that rival Orange had made misleading and malicious comparative claims in a press and poster campaign. The ads had claimed “on average Orange users save 20 every month”.

Orange has launched an aggressive press campaign to capitalise on its success in court which implicitly accuses the other two leading operators of misleading consumers over price.

No complaints have been received by the ASA about the new campaign but industry observers expect it to spark retaliatory action from the other operators. Knocking ad campaigns and further complaints seem likely to be on the agenda.

The new ASA row revolves around a press and poster ad produced by Orange offering a free car kit for those joining one of its talk plans, Talk 200.

The original ad omitted the clause that you had to join the scheme for a “minimum of six months”.

Orange later amended the advertisement, which is still running. Cellnet also disputes Orange’s claim in its ASA complaint to have national coverage.

The latest row follows a leaked ASA judgment obliging Cellnet to remove advertising which makes misleading price comparisons with Orange.

Vodafone will launch a “pre-pay” mobile phonecard system in September, allowing consumers to buy a phone, plus a monthly amount of minutes, without signing a contract. Orange and Cellnet are believed to be considering similar ventures.