8ta’s ad campaign labelled “false and misleading”

The Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) filed the complaint in November last year complaining to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that 8ta’s promotion Live Unlimited, which promised “unlimited calls to all networks at any time” was not accurate.

ISPA argued the promotion only allowed calls to certain providers, which included major networks Neotel, Vodacom and MTN, but of the 86 fixed national networks 94.4 percent were not covered.

8ta, the mobile arm of the part state-owned Telkom, reportedly argued the merits of its case to ASA, but no action will be taken because the promotion had run its course and 8ta said they had no plans to bring it back.

An ASA statement said: “The ASA has a long standing principle which holds that where an advertiser provides an unequivocal undertaking to withdraw or amend its advertising in a manner that addresses the concerns raised, that undertaking is accepted without considering the merits of the matter.”