A new Frontier Vantage brand aims to highlight new video, broadband, and voice products from the growing carrier. Vantage TV, Vantage Internet, and Vantage Voice branding joins a growing number of service providers who are implementing premium branding strategies.
“This is the perfect time for Frontier to launch our premier products,” said Cecilia K. McKenney, Frontier Executive Vice President, Chief Customer Officer and head of Corporate Marketing in a press release. “We are excited about the opportunities for our customers, shareholders, and employees as the year unfolds, and look forward to our new Vantage brand being an important part of this transformational year for Frontier.”
The new Frontier Vantage brand will initially focus on markets where Frontier is launching their new IPTV service. Durham, North Carolina is the first, with many more to follow. Frontier CEO Daniel J. McCarthy announced Vantage TV will reach 3 million households over the next four years. “Once complete, video services will be available to approximately 50 percent of the 8.5 million households in Frontier’s current footprint,” according to the Frontier press release.
New Frontier Vantage Brand Will Not Impact Frontier FiOS
A Frontier spokesperson tells Telecompetitor that the new Frontier Vantage brand will not replace the existing Frontier FiOS brand. Frontier FiOS comes courtesy of past and current Verizon FiOS territory acquisitions, where they will continue to use the Frontier FiOS brand, which utilizes FTTP technology.
That Frontier FiOS footprint will grow considerably very soon, as their recent Verizon territory acquisition of markets in California, Texas, and Florida is scheduled to close in the coming weeks.
Vantage bundles will feature Vantage TV, the IPTV service formerly branded as Frontier TV, which is powered by Ericsson’s Mediaroom platform. Vantage Internet will feature broadband tiers that begin at 12 Mbps, but may offer speeds of up to 1 Gbps, depending on location.
Vantage Voice will offer a new “feature-rich” residential VoIP service, according to the spokesperson. Vantage bundles will be delivered largely by FTTN architectures, differing from the Frontier FiOS FTTP platform.
Premium Branding Strategies
The new Frontier Vantage brand joins a number of premium branding strategies already in play by telco and cable competitors. Verizon launched its FiOS brand over a decade ago. AT&T uses U-verse and Comcast uses Xfinity. Most recently, Charter launched the Spectrum brand. Cablevision probably started this trend with their Optimum brand.
These branding strategies aren’t unique to large tier one carriers. Mediacom has Xtream and Cincinnati Bell has Fioptics.
I thought AT&T had a VOIP service called Vantage they rolled out a few years ago? I seem to recall Vonage threatened legal action because the brand name was too close to theirs for comfort.