Optus has been ordered by the Supreme Court not to book any more ad spots for its latest ad on that basis that it could be misleading. Telstra has taken its rival to court claiming that it would be unfairly losing customers on the basis of a deceptive ad, with an implication that is "plainly false". Optus is defending its position.
The M&C Saatchi-designed advert shows a map of Australia with the population coverage of each network. Telstra's network covers 99.3 percent of the population, while the Singtel-owned Optus network covers 98.5 percent. Optus pushes the line that there isn't much difference in coverage.
Telstra has claimed that the ad is misleading because the population coverage figures are presented on a map of Australia, and could therefore be interpreted as geographical coverage. Telstra stated its geographical coverage is almost two and a half times that of Optus (2.3 million square kilometres, whereas it claims Optus' geographical coverage is around one million square kilometers).
The case will continue in the Victorian Supreme Court next Wednesday. Until then, judge James Elliott said Optus must not book any more ads on TV or online.
In a statement, David Epstein, Vice President Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Optus said: "There is no dispute that the difference is less than 1% between the population reach of Optus’ network compared to Telstra’s. That hasn’t been challenged.
"Telstra is seeking an injunction regarding our recent advertising campaign in which they are challenging the visual representation of our reach metric in a specific advertisement.
"We have been consistent and transparent in how we communicate the less than 1% difference in the population reach of the Optus mobile network compared to Telstra’s and we will defend this position."
Meanwhile a Telstra spokesperson said:
“We’re calling on Optus to be clear with Australians about the extent of their mobile network coverage. In its latest TV commercial Optus has tried to create the impression its network coverage is “less than 1%” smaller than Telstra’s.
"This is plainly false. The difference in geographic coverage is literally many hundreds of thousands of square kilometres. It’s a reality anyone venturing beyond cities or using their phone in back bedrooms and car parks understands.
"We understand how important network coverage is to our mobile customers and we are not prepared to allow Optus to mislead the public.
"Telstra offers Australia’s largest and most reliable national mobile network with a coverage footprint reaching across more than 2.3million square kilometres. It’s time for Optus to come clean and confirm the geographic coverage it offers.”
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