An advert by Melita Mobile Ltd claiming its services were “up to 30 per cent cheaper” was yesterday deemed to be potentially misleading by the Appeals Tribunal.

The tribunal, presided over by Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti, delivered the ruling after Melita appealed a decision by the Director of Consumer Affairs.

The case goes back to February 2009 when Melita offered new mobile phone pre-paid and post-paid services.

It had launched a promotional campaign saying that subscribers would benefit from “up to 30 per cent cheaper mobile rates”.

A week later, the Consumer Affairs Division had informed the public that the advert included elements that were potentially misleading.

Although the advert claimed that Melita’s rates would be up to 30 per cent cheaper, it did not say that calls of under one minute would be billed as though they were one minute long. The division said the words “calls are on a per second basis after the first minute”, which appeared on the advert, were not clear enough to allow consumers to make an informed decision.

The tribunal decided that the advert could mislead consumers because not all phone calls made by subscribers would be 30 per cent cheaper than those offered by Melita’s competitors.

The words “calls are on a per second basis” were in bold type on the advert while “...after the first minute” were in normal print.

The advert also stated, in very small letters, printed vertically rather than horizontally, that “Terms and Conditions Apply” but there was no indication of what this referred to. There was no doubt the consumer was not in a position to take an informed decision.

The court dismissed Melita’s appeal and upheld the director’s decision.