Small print below the text stated: "Our independently audited tests from April to September 2004 show that Vodafone has the best call success rate of any mobile GSM network in London."
O2 objected to the two ads, created by JWT, saying that the call success rate on which the claims were based was not sufficient to justify the general superiority claim for mobile network performance.
It also complained that the small print call success rate qualification was not sufficiently prominent.
Vodafone said the small print on the posters could easily be read by normally sighted people when it was displayed on a 48-sheet poster and that it had been placed prominently underneath the headline.
The mobile operator also pointed out that there was no mention of mobile network performance on the posters and that the graphical signal device next to the headline in both posters emphasised that the ads were about the ability to make a call.
Vodafone also argued that it had used the most recently available data on call success rates, which was audited by the British Approvals Board of Telecommunications to support its claim.
The Advertising Standards Authority upheld the complaint and said that in the future Vodafone must make sure that small print appears clearly and prominently on a contrasting background.
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