LTE and 4G marketing battle in SA
Long Term Evolution (LTE) is making headlines in South Africa after Vodacom launched South Africa’s first commercial LTE service earlier this month. The operator avoided using its parent company Vodafone’s 4G branding, raising questions over whether LTE will be branded as 4G locally.
Vodacom has previously opposed the use of the term 4G by competitor Cell C to describe its HSPA+ network, and has won an Advertising Standards Authority of SA (ASA) battle which forced Cell C to pull its 4G marketing campaign.
The shoe is now on the other foot after Vodacom launched LTE at the 2012 MyBroadband Conference. The International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU’s) defines 4G as LTE-Advanced and WirelessMAN-Advanced. The ITU also explicitly stated that it does not view LTE, WiMax, and HSPA+ as 4G.
Cell C has not forgotten about its 4G battle with Vodacom. Cell C CEO Knott-Craig says that the group will definitely oppose Vodacom if it wants to brand its LTE network as 4G.
4G-LTE
Vodafone LTE 4G logo
Despite this history, Vodacom executive Jannie van Zyl argues that the term 4G should be used in relation to LTE.
Van Zyl says that Vodacom is currently marketing LTE as LTE, but adds that this is not the real question. “The real question is what the industry will do and what consumers will understand,” said van Zyl.
According to van Zyl the global telecommunications industry is using the term 4G to describe LTE. “75% of operators brand their LTE networks as 4G or 4G-LTE,” he said.
Vendors like Samsung and Huawei are also branding their LTE equipment as LTE, while the media has started to use the term 4G to describe LTE.
“These 4G branded devices and messages will come into South Africa outside of the control of Vodacom, which means that we cannot control the message our subscribers will receive,” said van Zyl.
Van Zyl argues that to avoid consumer confusion, LTE should not be labeled as LTE or as 4G, but rather as 4G-LTE.
“By tying together a marketing and technical definition, we do not favour any specific one but reduces confusion in the industry as much as possible,” said van Zyl.
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