Why One Brand Is Not Enough: The Real Power Behind a Telco Multi-Brand Strategy

Branding can be a difficult endeavour, and the telecommunications industry faces unique kinds of challenges. 

Telecoms are seen as a utility and even in some cases a commodity. To stand out from the crowd, telcos increasingly need to sell reliability, lifestyle, flexibility, even identity. 

Trying to do all that under a single brand is a significant hurdle, like attempting using one key for every door in a building. It might work sometimes, but more often than not, telcos will find it just does not fit.

A one-size-fits-all approach to branding is no longer enough to retain market share in today’s increasingly competitive landscape. 

That is why more telcos are turning to a multi-brand strategy. AT&T has multiple sub-brands such as Freedompop that targets seniors in the USA while T-Mobile’s subsidiary Metro targets prepaid users.

While this is not a new concept, it is picking up serious momentum, especially as customer expectations shift and competition tightens. 

This article dives into the core objectives behind that strategy and why getting them right could be key to your next phase of growth.

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Expand Market Reach Without Diluting the Core Brand

Telco flagship brands may already have strong recognition and loyalty but they cannot be everything to everyone. A multi-brand strategy allows telcos to tap into new customer segments that might not be a fit for their existing main brand. 

Many main telco brands could position themselves as reliable, premium, or dependable which is great for certain groups. 

However, more niche groups such as young digital-first users, price-conscious families, or even seniors and immigrant workers might not see themselves in the main brand’s messaging. No matter how many tweaks are done, they still will not be attracted to the brand’s product or service.

That is where secondary brands help. They can give telcos a new way to speak, market, and design around what a specific segment cares about. 

Smart Communications in the Philippines is a good example of such a brand. While Smart is their main premium brand, TNT (Talk ‘N Text) targets budget-conscious users with value-driven offers and promotions.

By clearly segmenting their brands, telcos avoid the risk of alienating loyal customers while still winning new ones. They can meet people where they are without compromising their core brand’s identity.

Compete Across Multiple Price Tiers

Lowering prices can win new customers, but it can also eat away at the brand. If a telco has spent years building a premium reputation, slashing prices can undo that overnight.

A better move is to let a sub-brand take on the bargain hunters. That brand can play the pricing game while the main brand keeps its value positioning intact.

Take Orange and its sub-brand Sosh in France. Sosh appeals to digital natives who are price-savvy and self-reliant, while Orange remains a full-service, premium provider. One focuses on margin, and the other one for volume. When both are managed well, they can lift the whole business.¹

Australia’s Exetel brand owned by Superloop and UK’s giffgaff brand by Telefonica UK are also examples of flanker brands that target budget consumers.

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Foster Innovation and Experimentation

Launching new ideas under an established main brand takes time. It involves approvals, legacy systems, and alignment with broader positioning. This means it takes time to pursue innovation.

Sub-brands can move faster thanks to fewer legacy constraints and more freedom to experiment. Digital sub-brands are often used as experiments for self-service channels, fintech, or AI-driven services. Once proven, these innovations can later be scaled to the telco’s main brand.

For instance, T-Mobile USA’s Metro by T-Mobile (formerly MetroPCS before the acquisition) was an early player in the push for unlimited data plans and fully digital onboarding.² After its acquisition, the Metro brand became akin to an innovation lab which helped inform T-Mobile’s broader transformation. This “incubator” approach works especially well when innovation speed is a competitive advantage.

Target Niche Segments More Effectively

Different customer groups have different priorities and will not necessarily respond to the same product design, marketing language, or brand imagery. A multi-brand strategy helps telcos fine-tune messaging, packaging, and offers to meet the specific needs of different audiences.

Being specific is powerful. Telco brands can get better traction if their brand speaks directly to a student, a migrant worker, or a first-time postpaid user in a way that feels tailored.

This is the reason why brands like Lebara have succeeded.³ They focus on migrants needing international calling, multilingual support, and affordable rates. Their entire experience is built around that audience. It is a focused strategy that a mainstream brand might struggle to deliver authentically.

Instead of stretching the flagship brand thin, it often makes more sense to launch a focused sub-brand that owns a particular niche.

Defend Against New Entrants and MVNOs

The telco space is extremely competitive, with new digital-first telcos and MVNOs launching constantly targeting niche markets. They are nimble and often aggressive with their pricing.

A multi-brand strategy allows telcos to pre-emptively target the potentially profitable segments that new entrants are targeting with their own offer. They can anticipate new competitors by already having a sub-brand in place to compete against them. 

A sub-brand allows them to compete before the threat becomes real. Telcos can use these sub-brands to price aggressively, try new channels, and stay flexible without cannibalizing their core brand.

Maximize Customer Lifetime Value

Most people will not stay with the same phone plan forever. Their needs will change: some people will move from prepaid to postpaid, from solo plans to family bundles, or from casual users to work-from-anywhere power users.

A well-managed brand portfolio helps telcos retain customers. They can guide customers across different brands as their needs evolve. Some customers can start with the digital-first prepaid brand, then upgrade to a premium offer. When people have positive experiences with one brand, they are more likely to trust and adopt other brands within the telco’s portfolio.

One example is Malaysia’s Maxis and its Hotlink brand that serves prepaid users who value flexibility. Hotlink tracks users who top-up large sums consistently and then calls them if they want to upgrade to one of Maxis’s postpaid plans.

It is possible to have one continuous relationship even if the branding changes along the way.

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Enhance Organizational Focus

When every brand serves a defined audience, internal teams can move with focus. The team behind the youth brand can focus on influencer marketing, quick campaigns, and TikTok. Meanwhile, the team managing enterprise brands can zero in on SLAs, service uptime, and enterprise CX.

If each brand is built around a defined segment, different branding teams can specialize in delivering the right experiences. This kind of clarity enables better execution, faster decision-making, and improved customer satisfaction. This way, the brand’s team is better aligned on what success looks like for their brand and that makes it easier to build, test, and refine the offer.

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Unlock Operational Efficiency Through Shared Infrastructure

Telcos that are new to sub-brands do not have to duplicate everything for each new brand. Backend systems, billing platforms, and CRM tools, can be shared between different brands. That way, the team can focus on the main challenge: creating distinct customer experiences while running lean operationally.

These brands may look and sound different but they can share infrastructure. Telcos can strike a balance between cost control and customization. This allows them to achieve economies of scale while still maintaining differentiated brand identities.

Some Advice If You are Just Getting Started

Not all multi-brand strategies succeed. The ones that do tend to follow a few principles:

• Know your audience. Every brand should serve someone specific. If it is vague, it will tend to struggle
• Keep offers distinct. Overlap breeds confusion. Each brand should have a clear reason to exist
• Think long-term. Don’t launch a brand just to chase a trend. Make sure it fits a broader plan
• Invest in identity. Logos, tone, colors. All these matter more than you think. People need to see the difference
• Stay coordinated. Brands can be different, but they should not be disjointed

Conclusion

Most telcos outgrow the one-brand model. Many of today’s markets are too broad, their needs too different, and the competition too fast-moving.

A multi-brand approach can help you serve the right people with the right offers, at the right time. It helps you reach more people, adapt more quickly, and defend your position without breaking your core identity.

If done right, your multi-brand strategy can become a source of competitive advantage, one that keeps customers in and competitors out.

Ready to launch your own sub-brand?

If you are juggling multiple brands or thinking about launching one, we can help. We have worked with telecom companies to design brand portfolios that are clear, scalable, and future-ready.

Let us explore how you can design a portfolio that balances market reach with operational scale, without losing sight of the customer.

Contact us today or sign up for a demo to see how our solutions can accelerate your multi-brand success.