BT could explore new mobile brand in a bid to remain competitive

People familiar with the matter told the Financial Times that BT is eager to combat budget rivals like Revolut and Monzo in the UK telecoms market.

This would be a strategic pivot for BT, which currently only has its EE brand in the mobile market. With smaller companies committing to launching a mobile service this year, new entrants – or mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) – are rising in popularity.

MVNOs use the networks of major telecoms groups rather than build their own models, including Smarty, Tesco Mobile and Lebara. In the last several years the market has grown dramatically, with MVNOs adding 1.2 million new customers in 2023. According to CCS Insight, they also have an 18% market share of retail connections.

Analysts expect these figures to rise in the near future, causing UK giants like BT to rethink their offerings. At the time of writing, BT has no budget mobile offering, after last year deciding to use Plusnet only for broadband.

The Financial Times reported that the company’s new consumer chief Claire Gillies, alongside other executives, believe that BT must compete in all segments of the market to remain competitive.

BT told the publication: “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. At present, we have no plans to change our mobile offering.”

BT has been making moves across the industry in recent months, having invested £20 billion to build one of the fastest and highest-quality fibre networks in Europe. Speaking at Connected Britain earlier this year, CEO Allison Kirkby explained that the company passed 20 million homes last week and sees great potential for the future of connectivity.

“We as an industry need to ensure that we’re driving adoption and driving [the UK] forward from having the infrastructure to using the infrastructure, otherwise it makes us uncompetitive,” she said.

“We will not be connected with the rest of the world unless we start to better utilise our infrastructure, upgrade our digital skills and we are able to play that part BT’s trying to support.”

Capacity has contacted BT for further comment.

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