20 minutes – Swisscom can now send UPC customers to wegschnappen

Sunrise takes over the telecommunications provider and intends to offer all the offers under its own name. UPC disappears. "There are a lot of obstacles for Sunrise," says Klaus-Dieter Koch, brand expert at BrandTrust, a management consulting firm, for 20 minutes.

Klaus-Dieter Koch is a brand expert and founder of the BrandTrust management consulting firm. Previously, he had himself advised UPC Cablecom. (Image: BrandTrust)

The reason: in merger negotiations, the value of a brand does not usually play an important role but rather the number of connections and customers. "The company pays a lot of money for customers who could possibly quit because they do not want to go to Sunrise," says Koch.

"The competition will continue to increase."

For the competitors, Salt and Swisscom, the acquisition was a great opportunity to win over Sunrise and UPC customers because they are now very disturbed. However, these are not primarily individual end-users, but mainly large-business owners who only let individual suppliers into their rental homes.

The fact that the competitors are ready to fight for customers shows their reactions: "The merger of Sunrise and UPC is a chance for Salt, which is positioning itself even more clearly as a challenger in the Swiss market," says Viola Lebel, spokesperson for Salt, in 20 minutes. Swisscom states: "Competition will continue to increase".

"Brands become important when there is virtually no difference between products."

According to Koch, brands have a particular weight, especially from the customer's point of view, in the telecommunications sector, "Brands become especially important when there is virtually no difference between products." Based on the logic of the brand, it makes sense that Sunrise incorporates UPC, because According to Koch, UPC is in appreciation under Sunrise, but on Salt:

Another aspect is the relationship employees have with their brand. Anyone who works for UPC for a long time develops an identity pride, as Koch puts it: "If you strip an employee of such a brand, he loses that pride and is therefore less motivated."

For Sunrise and UPC, this could mean a loss of employee efficiency because less motivated employees are less engaged and more likely to stay ill at home. This would be a special loss for both telecom companies because, according to Koch, both companies have done a lot in recent years to encourage employees to bond with the brand.