UK fixed line broadband providers have now been forced to comply with a new ruling that obligates them to change the way they advertise fixed-line broadband packages, and imposes new broadband pricing rules.
The ruling by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and Ofcom, which came into effect last Monday, forces all UK broadband providers to include line rental in the headline price, as well as prominently display any up-front costs.
And, a further announcement on advertising of broadband speeds in the UK is expected to be made later this year.
Interestingly, the UK ruling comes just weeks after Australia’s competition regulator, the ACCC, partially blamed the telecommunications industry’s own advertising for contributing to the unrealistic expectations of Internet speeds by consumers, and called for ISPs to provide far better information to consumers about the performance of their services – in particular, the speed of Internet connections.
{loadposition peter}The UK’s newly imposed rule has drawn strong comment from broadband company Cable.co.uk which says it represents one of the biggest shake-ups the UK broadband market has ever seen and a “seismic shift” in broadband pricing rules.
The decision to force fixed-line broadband providers to comply with the new advertising guidelines was made by Ofcom and the ASA in May, after findings of a joint research project, conducted in June 2015, found that 81% of people shown a broadband advertisement were unable to calculate the total contract cost.
According to Cable.co.uk telecoms expert Dan Howdle, “even under these new rules, providers are still able to splinter off costs like internet security and whether you’re able to watch your TV service in high definition. It’s the nature of the industry: Providers will always do whatever they can to make things appear cheaper than they actually are“.
“But the real elephant in the room here is that, even if we do reach a stage where the prices advertised match those customers actually pay in all cases, broadband remains the only essential utility we buy without knowing exactly what we’re paying for.
"No one pays a flat tariff for a mystery quantity of gas or an unknown number of kilowatt hours, and yet this is exactly the situation with broadband: Advertised ‘up to’ speeds are simply fiction for many.
“Ofcom and the ASA are going to announce possible changes to the way speeds are advertised later this year. It all seems like tremendously hard work just to get the broadband industry to act with honesty and integrity. This change to a more honest pricing policy is a good start, but we have a long way to go yet.
“Providers concerned that these rules somehow pull the claws from their marketing efforts need to ask themselves: If the prices advertised match exactly those customers are expected to pay, and a realistic speed range is offered, would anyone buy any less broadband?”