The encyclopedia · Advertising & PR · Marketing decision · 2022
Tigo claimed Colombia's best mobile network — SIC said the awards didn't say that
Nov 2022: SIC fined Tigo Colombia COP 1,268M — its ads said 'the best mobile network'; the Opensignal, Ookla and Tutela awards it cited had no such category.
Tigo Colombia · 2022-11
What happened
Tigo Colombia, operated by Colombia Móvil S.A., ran campaigns claiming it had 'la mejor red móvil de Colombia' — the country's best mobile network. As proof, the ads leaned on awards from Opensignal, Ookla's Speedtest and Tutela. Colombia's SIC asked the simple question: did any of those awards actually say that?
The answer was no: none of the three programmes had a 'best mobile network' category — they measured speed, consistency or coverage in specific tests. In early November 2022 the SIC fined Colombia Móvil $1,268,000,000 pesos — 1,268 monthly minimum wages — for misleading advertising: the claim was not truthful, verifiable, sufficient or suited to the evidence offered, and could induce error in consumers.
The ruling drew a line for network-quality claims everywhere: third-party awards can support advertising only inside the categories they actually grant. A 'best network' assembled from unrelated trophies is not an evidenced claim — it is a claim wearing borrowed authority.
Why it happened
- 'Best network' was the campaign's core claim — and the proof it presented, speed and coverage awards, never granted that title.
- Borrowing authority from third-party names like Opensignal and Ookla made the claim feel verified; the SIC examined what the awards actually said.
- Evidence must fit the claim: the more absolute the promise, the more exact the proof has to be, or the ad becomes information that induces error.
The lesson
Third-party awards support only the claims they actually made. Citing speed trophies to prove 'the best network' is borrowed authority — regulators check what the jury really awarded.
Aftermath
The fine stood as Colombia's benchmark for network-quality claims; with the Claro and Movistar rulings it made Colombia one of the region's strictest jurisdictions for telecom superlatives — the ad's evidence must fit the ad's words.
Sources
- El Tiempo — SIC sanciona a Tigo por publicidad engañosa
- Comunidad OLA — SIC sanciona a Tigo con $1.268.000.000 millones por publicidad engañosa
spotted an error? The club wants to know.
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