Identifying European best practice in fibre advertising

A study among European consumers found that there is confusion about the terms used to market broadband access technologies, and as a consequence customers find it difficult to identify which networks provide the best performance. Consumers even think they have fibre access when in fact they do not. Telecom regulatory authorities have an objective to promote investment in, and take up of Very High Capacity Networks, which we understand as Fibre to the Home and Fibre to the Building. These authorities however have usually limited scope to address issues of awareness in advertising. Meanwhile, Advertising Standards Authorities, which do have competence over advertising, may have less expertise to grasp the wider implications of different technological solutions for broadband, and have no mandate to promote the objective of fostering investment in, and take-up of fibre networks. The study found that the strongest and most effective forward-looking interventions in the market have been driven by the National Regulatory Authority or Digital/Telecom Ministry of the country in question rather than the Advertising Authority. Those interventions have ranged from a labelling regime in Italy introduced by AGCOM to a prohibition on the use of the term 'fibre' in France except where fibre genuinely reaches into the home or premises. WIK's report includes clear policy recommendations such as guidelines at EU level by the European Commission to foster the involvement of NRAs and/or Ministries across Europe and better align policy approaches to advertising broadband with the objectives established under the Code. The review of the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive provides an opportunity to consider mandatory labelling schemes to address the problem.