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AT&T Is Most Valuable Telecom Brand

News Analysis Ray Le Maistre, Editor-in-Chief 5/9/2011

What's a brand worth? Well, if you're AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) it's worth US$69.9 billion, according to a BrandZ survey conducted by Millward Brown.

That gives AT&T the world's seventh most valuable brand among all company types and the most valuable telecom service brand, according to the survey, with China Mobile Ltd. (NYSE: CHL), Vodafone Group plc (NYSE: VOD) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) next in line (see table below).

Table 1: The Most Valuable Telecom Provider Brands 2011

Telecom service ranking	Brand	Value in $ millions	Global ranking among all brands
1	AT&T	69,916	7
2	China Mobile	57,326	9
3	Vodafone	43,647	12
4	Verizon	42,828	13
5	Deutsche Telekom	29,774	19
6	Movistar	27,249	21
7	Orange	17,597	36
8	NTT Docomo	15,449	48
9	O2	11,694	74
10	Telecom Italia	11,609	75
11	Telcel	11,558	76
12	MTS	10,883	80
13	China Telecom	9,587	91
14	TIM	8,838	95
Source: Millward Brown

The global list of all brands puts Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) in top spot followed by Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM). You can see the full list plus background information by checking out this link.

Other brands of interest that appeared in the Top 100 include Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) (5th place), HP Inc. (NYSE: HPQ) (18th), Oracle Corp. (Nasdaq: ORCL) (22nd), Blackberry (25th), Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) (44th), Samsung Corp. (67th) and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK) a surprisingly lowly 81st in the ranking.

According to Millward Brown, Nokia's brand has devalued by 28 percent during the past year.

Surprisingly, Skype did not make the Top 100.

— Ray Le Maistre, International Managing Editor, Light Reading

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digits 12/5/2012 | 5:05:49 PM

re: AT&T Is Most Valuable Telecom Brand

I asked whether Skype just missed out on the Top 100 but the company says it doesn't rank companies after the Top 100, so Skype's position not known.

In terms of global brands I'd be amazed if Skype was not a stronger brand than many in that top 100 -- is there a country in the world where Skype is not well known? Whereas TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile) is ranked 95th?

It's interesting to see the ranking and to look at the position of brands vs each other, within telecom and within all verticals, but I do wonder just how representative this list is...

Ray

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sarahthomas1011 12/5/2012 | 5:05:48 PM

re: AT&T Is Most Valuable Telecom Brand

The report says that "value" is based both on quantitative numbers and qualitative research like consumer interviews. I wonder how the two are weighted, because I think it'd be a very different list if consumer feedback were given a lot of precedence...or at least AT&T wouldn't been ranked so high.

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eurichardson 12/5/2012 | 5:05:47 PM

re: AT&T Is Most Valuable Telecom Brand

Since this is a global survey, I am surprised that China Mobile is rated so high. I doubt if they have much of a brand recognition in the Americas and Europe.

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[email protected] 12/5/2012 | 5:05:47 PM

re: AT&T Is Most Valuable Telecom Brand

Post is quite stunning for me as an Indian when I don't see any of the Indian companies on the dock. India is regarded as the fastest growing mobile hub but quite surprised to see no companies listed. Hope to see one of them soon.

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digits 12/5/2012 | 5:05:44 PM

re: AT&T Is Most Valuable Telecom Brand

I wonder if airtel might make the Top 100 next year following its move into so many African markets.

But given that China Mobile ranks so highly, which must be because there are 1.3 billion people in China who recognize and trust the brand, it's interesting to note that airtel or Reliance or Tata, for example, aren't in the ranking, given the 1.2 billion folk in India and the level of brand awareness of those mobile players even in rural areas.

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