Broadband: Advertising

(asked on 26th October 2018) - View Source

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 167873 on broadband: advertising, what assessment he has made of whether customers receive clear, concise and accurate information in order to make an informed choice about full-fibre broadband.


Answered by
Margot James Portrait
Margot James
This question was answered on 5th November 2018

The 2017 Digital Strategy set out that Government would work with regulators and industry to ensure that the advertising of broadband reflects the speeds that consumers can expect to receive and accurately describes the technology used.

Since the Digital Strategy was published, the ASA has implemented new guidance, which states that speed claims should be based on the download speeds available to at least 50% of customers at peak time, and no longer on 'up to' speeds available to at least 10% of customers. Ofcom has also updated its Code of Practice on Broadband Speeds. As set out in the Answer of 10 September 2018 to Question 167873, the ASA reviewed the use of the term ‘fibre’ to describe part-fibre and full-fibre broadband and concluded in November 2017 that the term 'fibre' is unlikely to mislead consumers as currently used in the advertising of part-fibre broadband services. In June, the Administrative Court granted CityFibre permission to proceed with its Judicial Review of the ASA's decision.

The Government remains committed to working with regulators and industry to ensure that consumers receive clear, concise and accurate information in order to make informed choices about their broadband, particularly as the rollout of new technologies like full fibre broadband increases. As part of this, we will monitor developments in other countries, including Italy’s current trial of a traffic light system for broadband advertising.

Reticulating Splines