The European FttH Council is up in arms about fibre to the curb (FttC), fibre to the building (FttB) and hybrid fibre coax (HFC) – all technologies embraced by NBN Co in Australia as part of its multi-technology mix – being passed off as “full fibre”, suggesting that it’s fibre all the way to the customer.

The council has published an open letter to EU telecoms ministers, calling on them to stop “misleading fibre advertising” by UK and EU broadband ISPs.

“We are witnessing ‘fake fibre’ advertising practices in several member states, using ‘fibre’ or ‘fibre speeds’ in advertisements for copper-based broadband, when the advertised product is not genuinely based on a full fibre connection,” the council says.

It adds: “There is growing evidence that consumers are largely unaware of the form of Internet connectivity they have bought, oftentimes due to the associated advertising.”

A survey conducted in the UK has shown that 24 per cent of respondents think they already have fibre cables running all the way to their home – despite this only being available to three per cent of UK properties. – Stuart Corner