ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has again warned Three about marketing claims that it offers “real 5G.”
The dispute dates back to a formal complaint from rival operator EE in 2019 after Three ran ads saying, “If it’s not Three, it’s not real 5G.” More recently, Vodafone challenged a Three television advertisement that asserted Three was building “Britain’s fastest mobile network” and invited consumers to “join the future on Three, it’s real 5G.”
In both complaints, the ASA ruled in favour of the challengers.
UK advertising rules require that any claim of superiority over competitors be supported by clear, demonstrable evidence. Three produced technical and theoretical arguments to justify its messaging, but the ASA found no robust real-world evidence that consumers would reliably experience the benefits claimed.
Three does hold a notably large block of contiguous 5G spectrum — 100 MHz — more than other UK operators, whose largest contiguous holdings are around 40 MHz and 50 MHz. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has noted that wider channel bandwidths, such as 100 MHz, are important for achieving the full potential of 5G, so Three’s assertion is not without some technical basis.
However, after consulting Ofcom, the communications regulator told the ASA that any higher peak speeds enabled by Three’s larger spectrum blocks would only be attainable under ideal conditions. Those peak advantages would be infrequent and unlikely to be experienced consistently by most consumers in a mature 5G market.
Consequently, the ASA concluded that Three’s advertisements were misleading. In its ruling, the regulator explained:
“5G take-up across the market was small at the time the ad appeared and that while more material differences could appear in future as take up increased, at that time, differences in 5G capacity between networks were unlikely to result in material differences in the experiences of end users.
For those reasons, we concluded that the claim that ‘Three was building the UK’s fastest 5G network’ was likely to mislead.”
The ASA has instructed that the current ad must not be used in its present form and warned that future campaigns should avoid asserting superiority without clear, verifiable evidence demonstrating consumer benefit.
It is important to note that the ASA does not have statutory enforcement powers like a court or regulator; it cannot impose fines. As an industry-established body, the ASA’s remedies are limited to requesting that advertisers withdraw or amend ads that breach the code and publishing rulings to encourage compliance.
(Photo by Joshua Hoehne on Unsplash)
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