Vodafone ditches 'FibreX' brand amid long-running stoush with watchdog

Wednesday, 12 June 2019

FibreX is now called UltraFast HFC, says Vodafone.

Vodafone appears to have climbed down in a long-running legal stoush with the country's competition watchdog, by stopping marketing its cable broadband networks in Wellington and Christchurch as 'FibreX'.

However, that doesn't appear to have stopped legal action by the Commerce Commission.

The commission laid 27 charges against Vodafone under the Fair Trading Act last year, relating to the way it marketed its services and presented customers with broadband options.

The charges included allegations that by naming and marketing its cable networks as FibreX, Vodafone was misleading consumers into thinking that FibreX was a fully fibre-optic broadband service, equivalent to the Government-backed ultrafast broadband network.

Vodafone pleaded guilty to nine of the charges brought by the commission in November but continued to contest another 18, including its right to use the FibreX brand.

* Vodafone's 'FibreX' label attracts attention from watchdog**

Vodafone has now begun sending communications to customers telling them that it has changed the name of the cable networks to 'UltraFast HFC'.

But a Commerce Commission spokeswoman said the matter was still before the court with the next callover date scheduled for August 15.

A callover meeting is a meeting where a judge and lawyers discuss any pre-trial issues.

Vodafone originally rebranded the cable networks as FibreX in 2016.

Former consumer director Matt Williams said in 2017 that the 'X' in FibreX indicated to consumers that the service was not pure fibre and noted the Advertising Standards Authority had ruled that its FibreX advertising was not misleading.

At that time he said Vodafone had 'no plans' to change the name or marketing of the networks.

But spokeswoman Kathy Gieck said on Wednesday that the name had been 'under scrutiny'.

'We wanted to avoid questions about the name creating questions about the product itself, which is why we've changed it,' she said.

The networks use a technology called hybrid fibre-coaxial cabling, which involves both fibre-optic and copper cabling, to deliver broadband to consumers' homes.

They offer download speeds of up to 900 megabits per second and upload speeds of up to 95 megabits per second, making them a 'good enough' alternative to fibre-to-the-home for many customers.

Gieck said Ultrafast HFC was 'a great broadband option for customers in Wellington, Kapiti and Christchurch'.