Sky's 'cheapest fibre broadband' claims possibly misleading

Sky kicked off a battle of the cheap ‘fibre’ broadband on Wednesday, issuing a press release claiming it now has the cheapest superfast connections in the UK.

The subscription broadcaster and telecoms provider said it was now offering its lower-tier fibre connections for £20 a month inclusive of line rental.

It wasn’t without its caveats, as usage was limited to a paltry 25GB per month - barely an hour of 4K streaming video content, and less than five hours of HD video.

The deal also required the customer to subscribe to Sky’s television services at the same time for a minimum £20 charge.

That meant the customer couldn’t get the cheap broadband deal without spending at least £40 a month - much more than many other providers charge for fibre.

Telecom companies were recently forced to end the misleading ‘unbundling’ of charges by the Advertising Standards Authority, with line rental now included in the headline price of broadband.

At the time, the ASA said the separation of broadband and line rental charges made it hard for consumers to make an informed decision on the total cost of their broadband package.

The ‘unbundling’ of television charges, however, was not covered by the ASA directive.

Sky’s claim that it was offering the cheapest fibre broadband were also questionable, with a quick check of other providers revealing Virgin Media currently offered faster speeds for a lower price.

The cable network, owned by Liberty Global, was offering ‘fibre’ broadband with speeds of 50Mbps - significantly faster than the 34Mbps promised by Sky.

It was also charging £18 a month, and unlike Sky, the deal did not require the customer to subscribe to any other products, meaning the total monthly payments would be less than half that of Sky’s.