M1 ad on rival SingTel network sparks fears over privacy, ethics

MobileOne Asia (M1), Singapore's second largest telecom company,

has been ordered to withdraw an advertising message which sounded when

M1 customers tried to use rival Singapore Telecommunication's (SingTel)

network.

The incident has also raised privacy and ethical issues in the

advertising sector.

M1, which launched the ad on November 6, was ordered to withdraw it the

following day.

The message encouraged users to adopt M1, the country's No.2 mobile

phone company, by disrupting overseas calls made through SingTel.

Since deregulation of the Lion City's telecom sector in April, carriers

have been caught in a vicious battle to woo customers through insistent

advertising.

SingTel corporate communications executive Ivan Tan said, "In Singapore,

you are free to use a number of international call carriers. If you are

an M1 customer, you can use M1's service, but you can also use

SingTel.

"When customers of M1 tried using SingTel's service, they would hear a

message prompting them to use M1's own service, which is 002. To add to

the confusion, the message would end with 'Thank you for using M1',

although the customers had used SingTel.

"That was not all. The company was delaying the call by inserting the

message in between the phone call. They were instructed to stop using

this (ad)."

SingTel had earlier lodged a complaint with Infocomm Development

Authority of Singapore.

Meanwhile, the advertising sector has spoken out against the concept,

which was described as "unacceptable" by Engage CTO and co-founder

Daniel Jaye.

BBH chief executive officer Chris Harris said, "It's not advertising, is

it? Bit low, I would say. It's intrusion into people's privacy and

inviting stronger regulations than is necessary.

"I'm not sure if it's illegal. Certainly, in the UK and the US it

is.

The Straits Times article said M1 had infringed industry regulations,

but it didn't say if it was actually illegal."

AdForce executive vice-president of corporate development and marketing

Dee Cravens added that the advertising industry had to "draw the line

somewhere" and that advertisers and agencies would have to "change their

behaviour to adapt to such concerns".

M1 could not be reached for comment, but the company had reportedly told

Infocomm that the ad only intended to "inform users of the availability

to choose whichever network provider they wanted".

Since deregulation, the telecom sector has taken the city's top

advertising product category, posting 132 per cent growth year-on-year

to Sdollars 115.9 million in the first nine months, according to figures

released by ACNielsen.

ACNielsen Singapore/Malaysia managing director Lennart Bengtsson, said

the three leading players in the telecoms market remained SingTel,

StarHub and M1. Together, the carriers account for a lion share of

Sdollars 93.9 million.

He said, "SingTel, StarHub and M1 not only are the top advertisers in

telecommunications, but also the top among all advertisers. It is

evident that they have provided the growth impetus in Singapore's

advertising industry this year.

"Improvements in the economy and government deregulation in a number of

other industries have also spurred advertising."