AllPoints Fibre resurrects the fibre advertising debate

In support of that claim AllPoints Fibre commissioned one of those surveys that miraculously end up supporting the point it’s trying to make. To be fair, the polling partner – YouGov – is legit, and just because a survey has an agenda, doesn’t mean the findings aren’t valid. The headline finding was that 77% of those questioned were unaware that it is currently legal to advertise part-copper broadband as ‘fibre’.

That is juxtaposed with the fact that 70% know part-copper connections are inferior to full fibre and that 72% agreed that it is misleading that companies can advertise part-copper broadband as ‘fibre’. For some reason the Advertising Standards Authority still allows that, despite having felt compelled to intervene in the broadband advertising many times in the past. So AllPoints Fibre Group CEO Jarlath Finnegan wrote to ASA boss Guy Parker to ask him what he’s playing at.

“You will be aware, following an ASA ruling in November 2017, that it remains permissible to advertise broadband connections that are part-copper (also called Fibre to the Cabinet or FTTC) as ‘fibre’,” wrote Finnegan. “No doubt you will also be aware that full-fibre connections (so called Fibre to the Premises or FTTP) are faster and more reliable, and as such provide a better experience to the end consumer.”

He went on to detail the YouGov research as well as some also done by Ofcom, before raising the stakes even further for Parker. “You will no doubt be aware that there are examples of other regulators from across Europe taking much more prompt action to tackle this practice,” wrote Finnegan. France, Ireland, and Italy were all cited as countries doing a better job than the ASA on this matter.

The letter concludes by reflecting that there has been a lot of water under the bridge since 2017, so maybe it’s time to give the issue another look. “In a public statement in September 2024, your organisation said that it was keeping a ‘watching brief’ on this issue,” wrote Finnegan. “Given that fully seven years have now passed since your original decision, we believe the time for consideration is now over. We urge you to take action on this vital issue.”

This feels like a reasonable argument to us. Maybe it was once appropriate to allow part fibre connections to be described as ‘fibre’ to distinguish them from legacy pure copper ones but full fibre is now widespread in the UK (over 70% of premises, according to Finnegan). This open letter was designed to compel the ASA to respond and, when it does, it had better have a good explanation if decides to stick with the increasingly obsolete status quo.