Waspa defends Vodacom

By Christelle du Toit, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 12 Feb 2008

The Wireless Application Service Providers' Association (Waspa) has defended Vodacom's controversial "100 cars in 100 days" competition, saying it does not consider it to be an illegal lottery.

Waspa spokesman Neil Hutchinson says the body does not consider the fact that SMSes for the competition were charged at R10 per message a reason to consider it against the law.

Hutchinson's comments rubbish weekend media reports that Waspa does not allow for SMS competitions that cost more than a standard SMS, or solicit more than one entry.

"The use of premium-rated SMSes is covered specifically in the Waspa code of conduct," says Hutchinson. "Waspa is not conducting any form of formal investigation into the Vodacom BMW competition."

The Waspa code of conduct allows for premiums to be charged on SMS competitions, stating only that "the price for a premium-rated service must be easily and clearly visible in all advertisements. The price must appear with all instances of the premium number display."

Hutchinson's comments follow news that the National Lottery Board (NLB) plans to take Vodacom to task for what it considers to be an illegal lottery in the guise of a competition.

According to NLB spokesman Sershan Naidoo: "If a company is having a promotional campaign for a product, the customer should not be paying more for that product than they usually would. The NLB is the regulator for all games of chance in the country and, if Vodacom wanted to charge more than the cost of a normal SMS for people to take part in this competition, it needed a licence from the NLB."

Outside perspective

ICT lawyer Reinhardt Buys has backed the NLB, saying Vodacom is on the wrong side of the law with its BMW competition. He notes that the competition solicits customers to enter repeatedly to increase their chances of winning.

"In terms of the law, a promotional campaign has to have an element of chance in determining the winner," Buys explains. "The weekly Vodacom draw is not based on chance, but on who entered the most during the week and, in other words, spent the most money."

Hutchinson is adamant Waspa has no rule against soliciting multiple entries for a competition and has distanced the association from Buys' comments.

Vodacom has said it is still engaging the NLB over its concerns.

According to Shameel Joosub, MD of Vodacom SA: "This promotional competition is being conducted in terms of the National Lotteries Act, and has already been conducted in several other countries in Europe."