Broadband provider Swish Fibre has lodged a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority over BT's use of the term “fibre broadband” in its advertising.
The claim objects to the term “fibre broadband” because of BT’s use of copper cable connecting local distribution points – typically referred to as "roadside cabinets" – to customers' homes. While fibre-optic cables are used to connect telephone exchanges to the cabinet, the copper wire of the "last leg" means that speeds are not nearly so fast as pure fibre broadband.
On the contrary, full-fibre products use fibre-optic cables that connect directly to the home, and are consequently much faster.
Swish Fibre's complaint marks the second phase of its “Censored” campaign by agency By Experience, with out-of-home running across the south of England. Media planning and buying is by CNS Media and Focus Media.
During the first phase of the campaign in July, Swish Fibre used the term “Fake fibre” to alert customers to the difference between the two products. BT contacted the ASA to dispute the term, sparking Swish's reactive secondary phase.
![Two billboards. The left reads "Fake fibre. Game over." and the second reads "Full fibre is better than [censored]".](https://cached.offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/news/KUC/FAKEFIBRE1_1.jpg "Two billboards. The left reads \"Fake fibre. Game over.\" and the second reads \"Full fibre is better than [censored]\".")
Swish Fibre: The July campaign and the current campaign.
Advertising watchdogs in Ireland, France and Italy have previously issued guidance that “fibre” should only describe full-fibre networks.
Alistair Goulden, chief marketing officer and director of Swish Fibre, said: “When BT use the word 'fibre' to describe their copper-fibre FTTC [fibre-to-the-cabinet] networks, I say that you can’t call a vegan sandwich a vegan sandwich if it’s got 10% or even just 1% meat in it.
“Copper-reliant FTTC networks cannot provide download speeds much above 80Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps. In contrast, full fibre’s 100% fibre-optic cables have the capability to offer up to 10,000Mbps today and potentially even faster download and upload speeds in the future.”
FTTC part-fibre is provided by Openreach in the UK and retailed by companies such as BT, Sky and TalkTalk.
±±¾©Èü³µpk10 contacted BT for comment but the company declined to.
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