Mobile operator Cell C plans to appeal the ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to stop using the term 4Gs in its advertising material.

The ASA’s decision followed on complaints lodged by fellow mobile operators Vodacom and MTN.

Cell C said that it was disappointed by the ASA ruling, saying that it did not appear as if the ASA had taken into account its extensive responses to the complaints lodged by its rivals.

“We use the term 4Gs to describe not only our new network, but our overall value proposition, [that is] 4 Great Speed and 4 Great Service,” said CEO Lars Reichelt.

He added that the company was not claiming to have a fourth-generation, or 4G, network.

“We have made it very clear on many occasions that our network is an [evolved high-speed access] HSPA + 900 based network using multistandard radio, running under Release 7,” noted Reichelt.

Six cities across South Africa now had access to the HSPA + 900 network.