BT broadband adverts banned over misleading speed claims

THREE BT broadband ads have been banned for wrongly implying that the company offers the fastest maximum speed for the cheapest price on the market.

The TV, press and website ads all claimed BT Infinity offered speeds of up to 52 Mbps, describing them as “the fastest fibre speeds as standard”.

Virgin Media, who believed the ads implied that BT’s “up to 52 Mb” service was the fastest maximum speed for a lowest-priced tier available in the UK, complained that they were misleading.

BT said it had tried to be clear that they were comparing their standard entry-level “up to 52 Mbps” service with the advertised headline speeds of major broadband providers’ standard entry-level service, namely Sky Fibre, TalkTalk and Plusnet at up to 38 Mbps and Virgin at up to 50 Mbps.

But the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said consumers would understand the phrase “fastest fibre speeds as standard” to mean BT Infinity had a faster headline speed than any other provider out of the entry-level fibre broadband services – or cheapest tier – available on the market.

The ASA said: “We noted that the major broadband providers against whom BT had compared their service all advertised a slower maximum speed for their cheapest option.

“However, we understood that there were other providers on the market whose cheapest, or only, service options advertised faster maximum speeds than 52 Mbps, in some cases significantly so.

“We therefore considered that, given the likely consumer interpretation of the claim, ‘fastest fibre speeds as standard’ had not been adequately substantiated. In light of the above factors, we concluded that the ads were misleading and had breached the codes.”

The ASA ruled that the ads must not appear again in the form complained about and told BT to ensure that future ads made clear the basis of the comparison “fastest fibre speeds as standard”.

A BT spokeswoman said: “This complaint was upheld on a minor technicality relating to the exclusion of niche broadband providers whose products are only available on a limited basis in specific geographical locations, and not to the vast majority of the population, like BT Infinity.

“The fact is that no other major broadband provider offers their customers a faster fibre speed as standard and, on this point, the ASA agreed with BT.”

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