BT criticised for 'misleading' fibre broadband checker

BT has been rapped by advertising regulators over an availability checker designed to indicate the coverage of its fibre optic broadband network.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 15 complaints from consumers who noted that the dates they were told super-fast broadband would be rolled out in their area had been pushed back over a long period, in some cases repeatedly.

Defending itself, BT said it had recently made "significant changes" to the wording of its BT Infinity checker tool, clarifying that the dates displayed are provisional and subject to change.

However, the ASA rejected this claim, stating it had seen no evidence to suggest that the telecoms giant based the deadlines displayed on its availability checker on scheduled plans for fibre broadband rollouts.

Consumers could reasonably expect that the service would be introduced on or around the dates displayed, the watchdog declared.

Consequently, it added: "We considered that the inclusion of provisional dates was likely to mislead."