Reliance Jio has filed a complaint against Bharti Airtel and global broadband tester Ookla in Bombay High Court. The newcomer has lodged the complaint regarding Ookla’s running advertisements proclaiming Airtel to be India’s fastest network. It also named Ziff Davis, a digital media company that acquired Ookla in 2014, in the complaint.
Jio has asked for trial under Sections 204, 406, 420, 465, 499 and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code. The charges, if proved, can lead to a hefty fine, a few years imprisonment or both.
According to Jio such type of advertisements have resulted in reputation and money losses as it accounts to conspiracy, defamation, and breach of trust, among others.
Airtel has labeled these allegations as “frivolous and baseless” and claimed that these are the reflections of the growing frustration of the newcomer which has been unable to make a dent despite offering free services and predatory pricing.
Earlier, Jio has approached the Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI), regarding the same commercial advertisement of Ookla. ASCI’s Fast Track Complaints Committee on March 29 upheld Jio’s complaint and asked Airtel to modify its advertisements by April 11.
Jio on this subject said,”The accused, as part of their larger vilification media campaign against the complainant, have deliberately coined the term to associate it with its telecom services, to deceive the public into general believing the so called award from accused number 3 (Ookla) is from an entity that has the authority to pass official certification whose data is indisputable and is universal authority on the subject”.
Apart, Jio has also charged Ookla with trying to sell its speed test certification for ₹78 lakh and said that it was even charging a commission of 2-4x if an operator wished to promote its business using the purported results. The company has declined the Ookla’s offer since it did not agree with the testing methodology and accused Ookla of selling the flawed data to Airtel.