CelcomDigi allocates RM100mil for brand building

PETALING JAYA: CelcomDigi Bhd intends to invest about RM100mil in building its brand as it unveils a new corporate brand along with a new logo.

Its chief executive officer Datuk Idham Nawawi acknowledged that the group has invested considerable effort in introducing the new brand and looks forward to its development over the next few years.

“If you look at our overall sales and marketing expenditure, approximately 40% has been dedicated to brand building and marketing,” he shared with the media during the unveiling of the new corporate brand and logo.

It has been over 10 months since the merger of both the telcos, Celcom and Digi, and according to Idham, the group is now strategically focusing on fibre and enterprise business.

“We provide substantial value to the enterprise market, particularly in the realm of 5G and artificial intelligence solutions customised for various industries,” he added.

Meanwhile, CelcomDigi deputy chief executive officer Albern Murty said the merger has effectively united valuable partners, fostering close collaboration.

On the network side, Albern highlighted that its partners Ericsson, ZTE and Huawei are now working closely to ensure the establishment of the best network infrastructure since the merger.

Albern added that currently, contact centres are already under one operational structure, providing support for both Celcom and Digi consumer brands.

“Even as we’ve developed fibre, enterprise services and other new products within the CelcomDigi umbrella, there are still customers with legacy plans under both Celcom and Digi that we will continue to serve,” Albern assured.

He said the group has no plans to retire the Celcom and Digi brands. Instead, they will be retained as product brands.

Looking ahead, he assured the public that they can expect to see more CelcomDigi products and offerings becoming available to the customer base.

On the progress of the merger, Idham said the organisational merger, involving people, management and the board, was completed in the early days, within the first two to three months.

“While several significant aspects of the merger are still in progress, the merger of the sales team has been successfully completed.

“We now have a unified sales team that supports both Celcom and Digi brands,” he added.

He emphasised that the integration of the network remains an ongoing process.

The group foresees that it will take 24 to 30 months to complete the full integration of the Celcom and Digi networks, merging 12,000 and 12,000 sites, respectively, into a unified network of 18,000.

Likewise, there are ongoing efforts to integrate information technology platforms, a task expected to take about 20 to 24 months to consolidate all systems.

Additionally, the integration of retail outlets, including Blue Cubes and Digi stores, comprising over 500 shops, is in progress.

“Although we have recently launched the new brand with a distinct logo, the journey of full retail integration will also require some time,” Idham noted.

Meanwhile, as part of the merger agreement, Celcom is obliged to divest its Yoodo brand within 18 months after closing through a sales auction process.

Speaking on this, Idham said: “We do have quite good interest from many parties to invest or take over Yoodo from Celcom, and we are on track.”