“We regularly review our offerings across all our brands to ensure our customers have access to the best products and services on the best network,” a BT Consumer spokesperson said. 

“At present, we have no plans to change our mobile offering.” 

A BT spokesperson told Capacity: “There has always been a significant role for BT in our Consumer business strategy. BT is highly valued by our customers and remains a central part of our portfolio of well-loved consumer brands, alongside EE and Plusnet.” 

They added: “It’s clear that now is the right time to reinvigorate the BT brand. To support this, we’ve selected the best agency partner, Uncommon Studios, to help us shape the next chapter for BT.” 

Uncommon Studios’ responsibility is to support BT’s brand strategy and activation, rather than being responsible for any broader brand strategy review. 

“Their appointment does not affect our existing relationships with other agencies,” the spokesperson told us. “There is strong alignment across our ExCo and Board that reinvigorating the BT brand is the right course of action for the business.” 

It has been speculated that BT would be finding new ways to compete with fellow telcos Virgin Media O2 and VodafoneThree to have sub-brands. Market experts believe BT could be looking for new ways to confront the evolving mobile market, given rising popularity of MVNOs. 

Kester Mann, director, consumer and connectivity at CCS Insight, commented on LinkedIn: “[This] would allow the company to compete more keenly in the competitive ‘value’ part of the market while retaining BT and EE as more premium brands.  

“Since BT curiously chose to shut down its budget Plusnet mobile service, it has lacked presence in the entry space. With new players (notably from fintech) poised to enter the market with disruptive offers, a brand refresh is needed for the company to stay competitive in all segments.” 

BT relaunched EE as its lead consumer-facing brand for converged mobile and broadband customers in 2023.  

The telco then made the strategic decision to withdraw from Plusnet Mobile in 2024.  

EE is performing well as the company’s flagship mobile brand, the company said, with mobile subscriptions performing strongly and demonstrating growth in Q1. 

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