Industry News
30th August 2023

Grain welcomes recent developments

Grain welcomes recent developments from both the regulator OFCOM and the Advertising Standard Agency (ASA) to stop companies from misleading consumers when it comes to Full Fibre.

We believe it is time consumers stopped getting misleading information about the broadband services they sign up to and welcome these recent developments, as they both work towards transparency in our sector.

In March, OFCOM started a consultation about limiting the use of the terms Fibre Broadband or Full Fibre Broadband, so that they can only be used by companies delivering their services using Fibre to the premise technology (FTTP).

While Grain is exclusively Full Fibre, for too long other companies such as BT, Virgin, Sky and TalkTalk have been advertising their services as Fibre, even when the home is connected using copper.

OFCOM intends to publish its consultation later in the year, which should mean consumers are no longer being misled into thinking they are getting a Full Fibre broadband service when it will in fact be delivered over copper.

This month we have also seen the ASA ban adverts from 6G Internet which they felt implied the company was using next generation internet technology. 6G advertises its broadband as Full Fibre speeds, whereas the fastest package that it offers is only 100Mbps, which is comparable with copper speeds and in fact 6G connects to people homes using unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum.

We welcome both developments from these respected bodies and hope that after the OFCOM consultation, the regulator will finally stop companies from using the word Fibre in their broadband advertising, unless it really is a Full Fibre connection to the home.

Importantly, we hope that consumers will no longer be given misleading information when deciding which broadband services to purchase.

You can read more about the ASA ruling here.

You can read more about the OFCOM consultation here.