NEWS ROUND-UP
Two thirds of broadband customers believe “fibre” should mean fibre-to-the-premises in ads
Worrying new research released today shows that millions of broadband customers across the UK may have been misled about their broadband service. Now that almost all broadband customers say a reliable internet connection is important to them, clarity on which technology offers the best service is vital. The clear majority (86%) thought the type of cable connecting them to the internet made difference to the speed they received, but 65% didn’t think their current connection relied on copper cables or hybrid copper-fibre, even though this is the case for most consumers. Almost a quarter (24%) think they already have fibre cables running all the way to their home (fibre-to-the-premises), despite this only being available to 3% of UK properties. What’s more, close to half (45%) believe that services currently advertised as “fibre” deliver this type of connectivity as standard, highlighting how confusing the status quo has made broadband for consumers. Once the difference between hybrid copper-fibre connections and full fibre was explained, two thirds thought the advertising rules should be changed so that hybrid services could no longer be called “fibre”. CityFibre, who commissioned the 3,400-broadband customer survey from Censuswide, is taking the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) to Court, disputing its conclusion that “fibre” is not a misleading term in broadband adverts when used to describe hybrid copper-fibre connections. The two incumbent infrastructure providers, BT Openreach
and Virgin Media, have sold so-called “fibre” connections for years – despite relying on copper cables to reach the home – and this has now become the industry norm, clouding people’s understanding of the digital infrastructure they are paying to receive. While just under two thirds (65%) said their broadband provider had described their connection as “fibre”, only 1 in 6 (17%) thought this connection would include copper cables. This confusion could mean that consumers miss out on the benefits of full fibre, damaging demand and so undermining
GDPR Drain
• 78% of organisations have found GDPR to be a huge drain on resources, poll finds
A poll out by ICSA: The Governance Institute and recruitment specialist The Core Partnership reveals that almost four- fifths (78%) of organisations surveyed have found becoming compliant with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to be a heavy burden on their resources; 9% of those surveyed were unsure and 13% felt that it had not been a heavy burden. Many organisations had to hire additional staff or employ external consultants due to internal resource issues. Even when work was outsourced, sometimes at considerable expense, it was not necessarily problem free with one respondent stating that ‘We engaged external solicitors but they themselves saw in increased workload, which reduced their response time for us’. This was reinforced by another respondent who revealed that ‘Our issue was mainly one of
the industry’s ability to reach the Chancellor’s target of national full fibre coverage by 2033. Any delay to the full fibre rollout risks the UK’s ability to compete in a global digital economy. CityFibre has today written to the CEOs of all the major broadband providers (BT, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Sky, Vodafone, EE and Post Office) asking them to change the way they advertise broadband to customers now, rather than wait for the judicial review of the ASA’s decision to conclude. Greg Mesch, CEO of CityFibre, said: “Years of misleading advertising of broadband speeds and technologies have left people totally confused about what they are paying for, undermining trust in the industry. It is time to put the customer at the heart of the full fibre rollout and ditch dishonest descriptions once and for all. “We are calling on all broadband providers to stop using
the word “fibre” unless it is describing a full fibre connection. Rather than waiting for the backward-looking ASA to be forced to act, the industry should stand as one and pave the way for a new generation of connected homes, businesses, towns and cities across the UK.”
resource. We started the exercise last summer but the data mapping took months. By the time we were ready to analyse it with our lawyers, they themselves were inundated and took some time to produce our GDPR readiness report.’ One critic bemoaned the fact that ‘Tech resources have
been diverted from business improvements to compliance at a time when a UK company should be focussing on using technology to improve productivity and drive the business forward.’ Several respondents struck a more positive note, stating that ‘It has taken a considerable amount of time, but has provided us with a good opportunity to review contracts and arrangements with external suppliers’ and ‘It will improve our approach to data handling and ensure that our housekeeping is much better. It is definitely a good thing, but, for an SME with limited resources, implementation has been quite painful.’ Resource issues and outstanding issues with third party contractors contributed to the delay in hitting full compliance. Just 50% of organisations were fully compliant with GDPR when the new EU data protection regulation came into force on 25 May. Some 27% admitted to not being fully compliant in time, with the remaining 23% unsure.
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