The Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) referred the legal representatives of Vodafone and Orange-Egypt to the public prosecution on charges of false advertisement. According CPA’s statement they referred Yves Gauthier, the legal representative of Orange Egypt, despite being out of office since June and appointing John Mark Haryon, and Ahmed Essam, legal representative of Vodafone Egypt, despite leaving his job in June and assigning Stefano Gastaut.
According to the statement, the two companies advertised on their Facebook pages, official billboards, and their cars about 4G services competing on the preface that each of them is providing 4G services.
CPA chairperson Atef Yacoub said that CPA monitored Orange’s advertising campaign, in which the company claims that it is the fastest 4G network in order to entice consumers to subscribe to their service. Vodafone’s advertising campaign has claimed that it has the most powerful network in Egypt and the globe when it comes to 4G services. The service, however, has not been officially launched yet.
He pointed out that he addressed the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) to check on the veracity of the allegations made about the advertisements. NTRA reported that the two mentioned ads are promotional campaigns for the 4G services that have not been commercially launched yet; therefore, the content of these campaigns are just promises made by the two companies to attract the attention of customers to the new service that will be launched and served in the Egyptian market.
An official in Vodafone Egypt said that the company’s recent advertising campaigns are for the sake of promoting the new service. The official added that the company provides 4G services in 21 countries around the world and is classified as one of the best mobile networks in the world based on the number of subscribers and reports of regulatory authorities in the 21 countries. The company also provides 3G services and is considered one of the best competing companies in the local market according to NTRA’s reports.
