• Move aimed at strengthening brand equity, synergizing customer goodwill  
• Also to support govt.’s efforts to create technology-driven economy
• To save Rs.100mn in advertising and Rs.1bn in sales related expenses annually 

By Nishel Fernando
Eyeing to capitalize on the unified brand equity as well as to support the government’s efforts to create a technology driven-economy, Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), joining forces with its subsidiary and mobile arm, Mobitel, recently unveiled their unified brand identity, bringing all products and services under a single brand. 

“Today’s brand unification brings Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel products and services under a single brand. The new brand identity will strengthen the brand equity of SLT-Mobitel, synergizing the goodwill gained by both to one strong brand with digitalization at its core. A brand that consumers readily recognize, trust and accept.” SLT Group Chairman Rohan Fernando said.

He noted that this initiative, which was proposed by him in the middle of last year, would help both entities to save approximately Rs.100 million in advertising and corporate communication expenses as well as Rs.1 billion in sales expenses per annum, thereby increasing the group revenue and shareholder profits. 

Speaking to Mirror Business, SLT Group Chief Executive Officer Lalith Seneviratne noted that the unified contact center and new packages under the unified brand would be some of the key outcomes to materialize along with this initiative as the two entities moving to unify and share some of their back-end operations such as customer relationship management database to provider a better experience for customers. 

Through Sri Lanka Telecom, SLT-Mobitel provides telecom networks and ICT services to organisations of all proportions across all economic sectors, other telecommunications operators and internet service providers (ISPs), public sector institutions, and domestic customers. These efforts are supplemented by an array of technologies including optical fibre, ADSL2+, VDSL2, carrier-grade Wi-Fi, and both fixed and mobile 4G LTE technologies. 

In particular, Seneviratne highlighted that SLT Group plans make a paradigm shift in broadband landscape by offering unique packagesunder the unified brand to customers by combining strengths of  SLT’s fiber capabilities with Mobitel’s broadband, based on the requirements of customers. 

SLT Group plans to complete these plans along with unifications of the two brands before end of this year.

“At SLT Group we no longer think of ourselves as a connectivity partner but as a lifestyle company impacting people’s lifestyles greatly. The two anchor companies in the group, SLT and Mobitel hold an important position to support the foundation of the Group. Together with other subsidiaries they provide Fixed-Line Services, Mobile Communications, Broadband Service, Internet TV, and Health Services Access among others. The companies will now further enhance collaboration under one brand and provide customer-first innovative services as the industry leader in providing a great customer experience,” Seneviratne said.

Despite the unified brand identity, the two entities, which come under separate managements, would continue to remain separate within the Group.

Reaffirming the commitment SLT CEO, Kiththi Perera said that SLT looks forward to working with Mobitel to expand its 4G, 5G and wireless broadband offerings under a unified brand umbrella, creating value for the customers and the company.

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC is the leading national Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions provider and it has been the leading broadband and backbone infrastructure services provider in Sri Lanka for over 163 years.

Mobitel, the mobile arm of SLT launched the first commercial 4.5G/4G+ mobile network in South Asia in 2018 and was the first network in South Asia to successfully showcase the deployment of 5G over a mobile network by connecting a commercial mobile smartphone to its 5G network exceeding speeds of 1.55Gbps.