Telefónica Deutschland to phase out Simyo brand, reposition Base

Telefónica Deutschland confirmed that the Simyo mobile brand would gradually be phased out in Germany and that the Base brand would be positioned as an online-only service in future.

The announcements finally shed some light on the German operator's plans for the raft of brands it inherited when it acquired E-Plus from KPN in 2014.

E-Plus, the former German mobile operator that has now been merged with Telefónica's O2 Germany unit, operated the traditional KPN strategy of selling services under multiple brands in order to target a diverse audience.

That strategy means that former KPN brands continue to litter Europe's mobile markets even though KPN has largely sold its businesses outside the Netherlands. Simyo still exists in Belgium, for example, although Liberty Global's Telenet now owns Base Belgium. Orange also still operates the Simyo brand in Spain.

In Germany, Simyo is to be integrated with the Blau brand, which is now the central brand for Telefónica Deutschland's "value segment" for low-cost mobile services. Simyo customers will be gradually transferred to Blau by the end of 2016, and Simyo tariffs will no longer be available from the end of July.

Meanwhile Base is to be repositioned as an online-only brand targeted at online-savvy and cost-conscious customers with a new range of plans. The new Base plans are now available at www.base.de.

Telefónica Deutschland stressed that the new Base offers are directed at new customers only and said the transferral of former Base customers to the O2 brand will not be affected.

"This is due to the fact that former customers of the Base brand prefer multi-channel offerings and value comprehensive service and assistance highly. This way, Telefónica stays true to its focused multi-brand strategy," the company said.

Business customers of Base and E-Plus are also to be transferred to the O2 Germany brand in the coming weeks, Telefónica Deutschland added.

For more:
- see this Telefónica Deutschland Simyo release
- see this Telefónica Deutschland Base release

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