The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has found Vodafone Qatar’s “3 Months Free” marketing campaign to be “in breach of” the Code on Advertising, Marketing and Branding, and issued an order to the service provider to remove all its advertisements related to this promotional campaign.

The advertisement includes “inaccurate and misleading” messages for customers leading them to believe that customers subscribing to this offer will receive three months’ worth of subscription for free.

CRA said it “regularly monitors” advertisements issued by the licensed service providers in Qatar to ensure compliance with the advertising code, which was issued last year to protect telecom consumers from misleading and deceptive advertisements about telecom service and products.

“The recent Vodafone promotion ‘3 Months Free’, in its current form, created the perception that the offer was free of any charges when in reality this promotion offers customers a discount of 30% of the subscription fees over a period of 10 months,” CRA said.

The code requires that advertisements and information provided to consumers should be fair, truthful and accurate, and should not be misleading. This obligation is underpinned by more detailed provisions for advertisements comparing competing products, special offers, broadcast advertisements, etc.

CRA has ordered Vodafone to “remove” all promotional materials for related to this campaign. “Vodafone may opt to correct the promotion by changing the content in the campaign to reflect the published tariff, which states that all new postpaid customers will get a discount equal to three month’s subscription free over 10 months on their postpaid plan’s monthly rental,” CRA said.

“We are here to protect telecom consumers from misleading and unfair practices by service providers. CRA has put in place several initiatives to ensure that operators act in the best interest of the consumers. The Code on Advertising, Marketing & Branding, was issued last year, and forms an important aspect to consumer protection together with the Telecom Consumer Protection Policy, a dedicated consumer complaint process, a 24/7 hotline (103), and Arsel – CRA’s mobile app,” said Amel Salem al-Hanawi, CRA head, Consumer and Government Affairs Department.

“I would like to encourage all telecom consumers in Qatar to be more aware of your rights and make informed decisions. If you notice any misleading advertisement reach out to us, and we will work with you to ensure that the information provided is accurate and to your benefit,” she added.

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