Ireland Doing What the UK ASA Failed to do – BAN “Fake Fibre” Ads

The Advertising Standards Authority‘s decision to allow slower “part fibre” (hybrid fibre) broadband ISPs to use “fibre” terminology in their broadband adverts is starting to look increasingly silly, particularly now that Ireland has joined a number of other countries by moving to ban such promotions.

According to the Irish Times, the ASA for Ireland (ASAI) plans to impose stricter guidance that will stop providers promising “fibre” in their broadband adverts if the connection(s) still relies on old copper or aluminium lines (FTTC / VDSL, Hybrid Fibre Coax etc.).

Most “full fibre” (FTTP / FTTH) ISPs can deliver significantly faster speeds (multi-Gigabit or even Terabit speeds) than metallic cables and are generally much more reliable, particularly over long distances. Experiences do vary, depending upon the network setup and length of the line, but generally there’s a huge difference (Will the real fibre optic service please stand up?).

The rising availability of FTTP networks across Europe has created more interest in solving this issue, although so far the United Kingdom’s own advertising watchdog (ASA) has successfully resisted attempts to change their stance. Meanwhile other countries, such as France and now Ireland, have slowly been taking action to prevent hybrid fibre services from using fibre terminology in their adverts.

Back in 2017 the ASA did finally agree, after a lot of pressure, to review the situation but in the end they only recommended minor tweaks (here). In its conclusion the ASA claimed that “fibre” simply was not a priority identified by consumers when choosing a package; that consumers did not notice “fibre” claims in ads and that they saw it as a shorthand buzzword to describe modern fast broadband.

Overall consumers told the ASA that they did not believe they would change their previous decisions, even after the differences between those and broadband services that use fibre optic cables all the way to the home were explained to them. Naturally many FTTP ISPs continue to disagree with this stance and not even Cityfibre’s failed court challenge could get them to budge (here).

Admittedly unpicking something that has long since become established in the consumer subconscious, where the meaning of “fibre” has been diluted over a decade of use (or misuse) by slower hybrid (part fibre) services, would be tricky. Nevertheless it’s clear that other countries are changing their stance and while this won’t directly change the ASA’s position, it does add extra pressure.

We can’t help but wonder if Boris Johnson’s (Prime Minister) plans to turbo charge the UK FTTP rollout (here) might also have an impact.