Valokuitunen led with '€0 fiber' and buried the 5-year contract and the total price

Valokuitunen, the Finnish fibre network company, ran a national campaign built on zeros: 'Fiber 3 months €0 + opening €0 + internet up to 6 months €0', and in another ad 'Fiber 12 months −50%'. The free months were real. What the ads did not say was that the connection came with a fixed-term contract lasting 60 months — five years — nor what the consumer would actually pay over its life.

The Consumer Ombudsman found the marketing misleading and deficient. Contract duration and total price are essential information that must reach the consumer before they take a step toward buying. If a price varies by region, the company must still explain how the price is determined; and if the price depends on a fixed commitment, the commitment's length belongs next to the price. The Ombudsman also rejected the company's pitch that the network was 'open' like electricity competition — customers could only choose among providers with agreements with Valokuitunen.

Ombudsman Katri Väänänen stressed that clear total pricing matters most exactly here: long fixed contracts where costs accumulate for years. Valokuitunen committed to the Ombudsman's demands and said it had already changed its materials, and the Ombudsman used the case to remind the whole industry of its 2023 price-marketing guidelines.