Brand portfolio strategy: Competing in a commoditized telco market 

Today, telcos are losing their power to differentiate, and brand is one of the few levers left to justify value. Yet, half of customers believe their provider does not offer good value-for-money – an issue that budget players are largely immune to as they fuel customers’ “fear of missing out”. Many operators still rely on a single-brand or legacy multi-brand model, effectively conceding the budget segment to MVNOs. In the first of four instalments, we draw on our Global Telecom Study 2026 – 35 markets, 18,000 consumers – to explore how brand portfolio strategy drives commercial value and where it matters most.

Telcos are not losing on price – they are losing on value

Telco’s value perception is broken. Connectivity is getting commoditized, features that once justified premium positioning are becoming a hygiene factor, and low-cost players – not technology leaders – now set the competitive price benchmark. ARPU is declining across segments, with the…