The recent report by Brand Finance titled “Telecoms 500 2017”, values the brands of operators and infrastructure companies around the world. Brands are first evaluated to determine their strength, based on factors such as marketing investment, familiarity, loyalty, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation, and this is used to determine what proportion of a business's revenue is contributed by the brand. This information is then used to rank the world's 500 most valuable telecoms brands. The top four brands include:

AT&T United States

Verizon United States

China Mobile China (HK)

China Unicom China (HK)

Huawei retains the top spot in the Infrastructure table with a brand value of US$25 billion after growing 28%. The Chinese giant persevered with its efforts to raise its brand profile worldwide. After successfully implementing global marketing campaigns, which include celebrity endorsements, its brand recognition subsequently increased to 81% in 2016, up from 76% in 2015, according to an IPSOS survey. Whilst the brand has also attributed its growth in part to the sheer size of the ICT market, Huawei is setting standards in the industry. Toward the end of last year, the brand garnered approval for polar coding, pushing Huawei closer to being the industry leader in 5G technology. In light of this, the brand may see its value continue to rise in the following years.

Qualcomm is the fastest growing telecoms infrastructure brand, rising 65% in value to US$6.8 billion. The continued success and development of the brand’s Snapdragon mobile processor products indicates the positive direction in which the brand is headed.

Be sure and read our two features on the value of carrier/operator assets. These are very timely for our changing industry.

Jeff Seal

Managing Partner

Telecom Review North America