VodafoneZiggo has won a court battle with KPN over its use of the term “glasvezel-kabel” or fibre optic cable in advertising, after the District Court of The Hague ruled that the operator had not engaged in unfair commercial practices.
KPN had argued that Ziggo’s marketing failed to make clear enough that its network is a hybrid of fibre and coaxial cable, and that consumers could be misled into believing they were being offered a full fibre connection or an equivalent service.
The court rejected that argument, finding that the use of the term was not automatically misleading and had to be assessed in context, including the explanations Ziggo gives in its advertising. The judges also found that KPN had not shown Ziggo’s “97% of the internet signal travels via fibre” claim to be incorrect or misleading.
The ruling is a significant victory for Ziggo in the long-running Dutch battle over how hybrid fibre-coax networks can be marketed, particularly as operators compete to position cable broadband against full-fibre rollouts. Telecompaper said the court found no evidence of misleading sales practices in Ziggo’s use of “glasvezel-kabelnetwerk” or in the related 97% claim.
The decision also underlines the differing legal interpretations emerging across European markets over the use of fibre terminology in telecoms advertising, at a time when branding around network technology is becoming increasingly contested.
