Page 61 - BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2014

Section 03 | The Categories
Technology | Telecom Providers

Telecom Providers

Economic recovery drives

market consolidation

and disruption

Brands focus on differentiation

European and North American telecom Virtual operators Chinese regulators

providers faced consolidation and approved the applications of two
disruption as the markets recovered electronics retailers, Suning and
economically and major players
Gome, to offer telecom services.
sought to strengthen their networks, They have joined other non-telecom
advance convergence and improve brands, such as Virgin, Tesco, and

customer experience.
Falabella, the Latin American
department store. These brands serve
Flush with cash following the sale of its as Mobile Virtual Network Operators
stake in America’s Verizon Wireless, (MVNOs), renting capacity from
UK-based Vodafone agreed to purchase telecoms and branding a service to
Spain’s Ono. The transaction, along with gain a greater customer share of life.

the earlier acquisition of Kabel
Deutschland, a German cable operator, Over-the-top Facebook’s acquisition
strengthened Vodafone as a provider
of WhatsApp may shift more voice
of high-speed broadband. These deals and text to free, over-the-top Internet
cooled speculation about a major alternatives. Data, more than

trans-Atlantic hook up in which the voice and text, produces revenue
American telecom AT&T would for the carriers. In addition, the
acquire Vodafone.
increased availability of free Wi-Fi
in public places may divert more
Meanwhile, challenger strategies data transmission.
Top 10 Telecom Providers

disrupted the pricing model of the
telecom category in the US, which is On-demand streaming Recent Brand
Brand Value
dominated by Verizon and AT&T. Not developments threaten the pay-for- Value % Change
long after US regulators rejected the view model that drives revenue
Brand
merger of T-Mobile and AT&T, T-Mobile for telecoms. Comcast, America’s 2014 $M Contribution
2014 vs 2013
introduced pay as-you-go pricing in
largest cable network closed a deal
1
AT&T
77,883
3
3%
a market where providers traditionally with Netlix and entered talks with Both challenges continued to become 2 Verizon 63,460 3
20%
lock in customers to multi-year contracts Apple. These arrangements more dificult for telecoms worldwide.
sweetened with deep discounts on potentially offer content less 3
China Mobile
49,899
3
-10%
smartphones.
expensively, with subscriptions, and Data usage increased with improvements
without the delivery problems that in mobile device processing power
4 Vodafone 36,277 3
-9%
8
and the option of multi-tasking on
T-Mobile, the fourth largest US telecom, impact streaming quality during a single screen.
5
Deutsche Telekom
28,756
2
20%
also offered early phone upgrades and high-use periods.
free international roaming. The brand, 6 Movistar 20,809 2
56%
which is majority-owned by Deutsche Building capacity
Vodafone planned to spend some of its
Telekom, added about two million Verizon proceeds on capital investment %
7
Orange
15,580
3
13%
to strengthen its European network. 8 BT 15,367 2
61%
customers in 2013, reversing a decline. Brands addressed the key and ongoing Telecoms sought advantage of scale,
Japan’s Softbank, which acquired Sprint, challenges of the category: providing investing in 4G infrastructure and 9
MTS
12,175
3
14%
the number three US telecom brand,
announced its desire to purchase enough bandwidth to smoothly handle amortizing the costs over large 10 MTN 10,221 3
-11%
T-Mobile. Combining Sprint with T-Mobile rising data consumption; and becoming customer bases.
more than a commodity delivery system Source: Valuations include data from BrandZM and Bloomberg.
would create a telecom with over 100 ignored by consumers – until something The high costs of these investments Brand contribution measures the inluence of brand alone on earnings, on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 highest.
million customers, roughly the size of the goes wrong.
resulted in more infrastructure
market leaders AT&T and Verizon. Other cooperation among carriers. With Deinition
potential category disruptors include:
pressure on revenues because of The telecom provider category
Europe’s economic slowdown, telecoms includes brands that primarily
requested an easing of rules to permit
more consolidation and 4G rollout. develop, maintain and
Regulators have prevented further market hardwire or wireless
infrastructure networks for voice
consolidation in the US.
and data transmission.

120 BrandZM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2014
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