Warid Telecom Gets Show Cause Notice for Advertising False Information!

Mashhood Riaz / News Reviews Category / 14th August, 2011 / 0 Comments
Warid Telecom Gets Show Cause Notice for Advertising False Information!

CCP (Competition Commission of Pakistan) has issued a show cause notice to Warid Telecom today. This notice was issued under the Section 30 of the Competition Act 2010 (The “Act”), for deceptive marketing policies. CCP sent a press release, according to which, Warid Telecom was sent this notice because of its “Minute Package” advertisements through various channels, saying “Rates of calls from Warid Minute Package to any network are Rs. 1.2/min”.

CCP also stated that this advertisement delivered false and misleading information to the consumers and have not disclosed the correct price, character and suitability of the product which is a clear violation of Section 10(2)(b) of the Act.

Warid Advertisement Blemishes:

Firstly in the advertisement, call rates are shown as 1.20/min without mentioning if the tax is being included or not. Secondly, Warid has not disclosed that this offer is time bound i.e. it is only valid from 11:00 PM to 4:59 PM. And lastly the Advertisement violates sub-section 1 of Section 10 in terms of clauses b of section 2 of section 10 of the act by actually charging different rates on ‘off-net’ and ‘on-net’ calls. That is, during 5:00 PM to 10:59 PM, call rates are Rs. 1.50/min + tax ‘on-net’ and 1.70/min + tax ‘off-net’ calls. This clearly shows that Warid telecom did not disclose its terms and conditions to the consumers.

CCP Response:

warid telecomCCP has given 14 days time to Warid Telecom to file its reply on this undertaking. Next hearing on this case will be held on 09 September, 2011. Competition Committee’s responsibilities are to make sure that the consumers get certain standard of quality, safety, performance from the services and goods they purchase. So the information about these products and services in the advertisement should be complete i.e. include the information required by law, price, content and other important terms and conditions.

About CCP:

Competition Commission’s responsibilities are to make sure that the consumers get certain standard of quality, safety, performance from the services and goods they purchase. So the information about these products and services in the advertisement should be complete i.e. include the information required by law, price, content and other important terms and conditions.

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