AGCM

According to the Italian Competition Authority, they did not provide adequate and correct information. Now consumers can clearly understand the features and actual performance of the offers advertised by Iliad, Vodafone, Fastweb, Telecom, Planetel and Unidata

The Italian Competition Authority has obtained a positive response from the landline telephony companies Iliad, Vodafone, Fastweb, Telecom, Planetel and Unidata, all operating in Italy, by means of a moral suasion intervention pertaining to the methods used to advertise fibre-optic Internet connections, which allow for particularly high maximum speeds (up to 2.5 Gigabit/s).

The Authority found that the information provided on the maximum navigation speeds for these offers was not truthful because there were no clear statements and/or correct information on the conditions necessary to obtain such maximum speeds. In particular, it was not adequately specified that the maximum speed is to be understood as the sum of the speeds of several devices connected to the different ports of the router and/or connected via Wi-Fi, or, in the case of a Wi-Fi connections, can only be attained through devices equipped with the latest generation technology.

As a result of the Authority’s moral suasion interventions, all operators have modified the graphics and supplemented the content of the information on the attainable browsing speed by specifying, on the page that presents the offers, that the 2.5 Gigabit/s are "divided between Wi-Fi and Ethernet ports", the speed "cannot be reached with a single device" and that "by summing the speed of the Ethernet and/or Wi-Fi ports, the maximum speed of 2.5 Gigabit/s is reached", or also that it can only be achieved by devices equipped with the most advanced Wi-Fi technology.

The Authority therefore considered that the moral suasion led to positive results in terms of informative clarity on the conditions necessary for the use of the maximum connection speed offered. The transparency obtained, with complete and clear information, can help consumers understand the characteristics and actual performance of the fibre-optic internet connection offers, with particular reference to one of the most important factors that influence consumers’ choices, which is the navigation speed.

Rome, 23 June 2022