Business

Coppersaurus ‘unearthed’ in Peterborough!

A copper dinosaur walks into Serpentine Green Shopping Centre… As much as this might sound like the opening line of a joke, it’s actually an announcement for the latest stop on the Coppersaurus’ UK road trip.

Brought to life by CityFibre, the two-metre-tall dinosaur is touring the UK as part of the full fibre infrastructure provider’s national campaign to make misleading broadband adverts extinct. Last week (8-9 December) it visited Serpentine Green, giving locals the chance to find out about misleading broadband ads and the truth about the cables beneath their feet.

Still confused by all the broadband jargon? Well, you’re likely to be in the same boat as other unsuspecting local broadband customers – many of whom are still receiving their internet via aging copper infrastructure but paying a premium for ‘fibre’.

Will Brayne, Director of Marketing and Communications at CityFibre, said: “The Coppersaurus represents the UK’s neglected digital infrastructure and its equally redundant advertising rules. Copper is masquerading as fibre across the UK, leaving us stuck with a relic from the past rather than focusing on the digital connectivity of the future.

“That’s why we’ve brought the campaign to Peterborough, so residents can help us make sure the practice of advertising copper-reliant connections as fibre gets its very own asteroid moment. It is time the rules were changed once and for all.”

At present, the UK’s advertising rules (enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA)), do not require advertisers to distinguish between full and part fibre services, despite the services they provide being completely different, both in terms of capability and service.

This means that consumers are often misled into paying for ‘fibre’ internet services, which are in fact only part fibre and not equipped to consistently provide the speeds and services promised, because of the copper in the network slowing them down.

The city has been selected as one of the next locations to benefit from a complete full fibre transformation as part of CityFibre’s strategic partnership with Vodafone, which aims to deliver full fibre to five million homes by 2025.

Over the coming months, CityFibre will continue its work to extend its state-of-the-art digital infrastructure to almost every home and business in the city – a futureproofing investment worth £30m, which will enable residents and businesses to experience ultrafast speeds and limitless bandwidth for the very first time.

If you believe advertising rules should reflect our rapidly developing digital landscape, then you can support CityFibre’s campaign by signing the petition at www.coppersaurus.com.

CityFibre is the UK’s leading alternative provider of wholesale full fibre network infrastructure. With existing full fibre infrastructure in towns and cities throughout the UK, it provides a portfolio of active and dark fibre services to its customers, which include service integrators, enterprise and consumer service providers, local authorities and mobile operators. CityFibre is committed to bringing gigabit capable full fibre broadband to up to five million UK homes and businesses. CityFibre’s strategy is focused on cities and towns outside London. The company is jointly controlled by Antin Infrastructure Partners and West Street Infrastructure Partners (a fund managed by Goldman Sachs).

For more information about CityFibre, visit: www.cityfibre.com


The Coppersaurus – campaigning for a change to prehistoric advertising rules

What’s the issue?
Earlier this year the Chancellor committed to full fibre reaching all corners of the UK by 2033. However, for this to become a reality, it is important that consumers and businesses know what connections they currently have and understand how full fibre supports the digital demands of the future.

The current guidelines upheld by the ASA are a major barrier to the rollout because they allow broadband providers to sell old copper connections as “fibre”, with no qualification. Although the ASA has taken steps to qualify how speeds can be reported, it has left the job unfinished, leaving a loophole that allows providers to claim old technology as new. The ASA must now change the rules.

How can I get involved?
Visit Coppersaurus.com to sign the petition and send a letter directly to the ASA.
The campaign is also on social media at Facebook/Coppersaurus. You can also follow the Coppersaurus himself @mecoppersaurus

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