Strong leadership and innovation ensure Japanese telecoms brands stay competitive globally
TOKYO, 6 March 2025 – Demonstrating its regional dominance, three Japanese brands are among the world’s top 20 brands in the Brand Finance Telecoms 150 2025, a new report from Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy.
NTT Group (brand value up 19% to USD37.1 billion) maintains its prominent market leadership in the sector as the fifth most valuable telecoms brand globally. This consistent performance, significantly bolstered by the contributions of NTT Docomo and NTT Data, also supported NTT Group’s Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 73.3 out of 100 and an AA brand strength rating this year.
SoftBank (brand value up 32% to USD13.9 billion), ranked at 11th globally among telecoms brands, supported by its improvements in the BSI score (66.9 out of 100), steady financial performance, increased revenue, and significant technological advancements.
Taking the 14th rank among the global top 20 telecoms brands this year is au (brand value at USD10.9 billion), with a BSI score of 68.3 out of 100 and an AA- brand strength rating. The company continues to grow steadily, with an increase in enterprise value and consistent financial performance.
Over the past year, the Japanese telecoms sector has been marked by a dynamic interplay of technological advancement, strategic collaboration, and adaptation to evolving consumer demands. Key trends in this sector include the accelerated expansion of 5G infrastructure, with major players like NTT Docomo, KDDI, and SoftBank driving network enhancements and exploring 6G development.
Alex Haigh, Managing Director Asia Pacific, Brand Finance, commented:
"Japan’s telecom leaders—NTT Group, SoftBank, and au—continue to excel globally, leveraging innovation, financial strength, and strategic foresight. As the industry shifts toward 6G, advancements in research, partnerships, and technology will redefine connectivity and create new revenue opportunities. In an increasingly competitive market, the ability to drive commercial success while maintaining a long-term vision will be crucial for sustaining leadership in the years ahead.”
Other Japanese telecoms brands featured in the Brand Finance Telecoms 150 2025 rankings presented a mixed performance, reflecting the dynamic and competitive nature of the global telecommunications market:
Telecoms Industry Global Insights
Deutsche Telekom (brand value up 16% to USD85.3 billion) holds its position as the most valuable telecoms brand globally, more than USD13 billion greater than Verizon, the world’s second most valuable telecoms brand at USD72.3 billion.
Swisscom has risen from third place to become the world’s strongest telecoms brand in 2025, with a brand strength index (BSI) score of 89.8/100. This achievement reflects its strong performance across key metrics, including perfect scores for familiarity, reputation, consideration, price premium, and recommendation in Switzerland, underscoring its strong appeal among consumers.
e&, the world’s fastest growing brand this year, posted an eight-fold increase in its brand value to USD15.3 billion. This achievement places e& among the top ten most valuable telecoms brands globally.
Huawei is once again the most valuable telecoms infrastructure brand in 2025. After a significant drop in brand value last year, the brand is showing signs of recovery, increasing its brand value by 3% to USD32 billion despite challenges posed by ongoing U.S. sanctions and restrictions, which have affected Huawei’s operations and market access.
Summary of Top Telecoms Brand Guardians
The Brand Guardianship Index evaluates the efficacy of chief executives in managing and elevating their companies' brands while fostering long-term value creation. The ranking is derived from insights gathered through a global survey of nearly 5,000 respondents, including equity analysts, journalists, and the general public.
This thorough assessment underscores the strong correlation between effective brand leadership and corporate growth, highlighting the critical role of strategic foresight and commercial acumen. The Index integrates both perceptual factors, reflecting stakeholder sentiment, and performance metrics, which measure concrete business outcomes.
The Telecoms Brand Guardianship Index includes the top 10 CEOs from the industry.
Akira Shimada, President and CEO of NTT Group, secures fourth place, recognised for his focus on long-term value creation and sustainability. Notably, he has an almost perfect score for Reputation, further solidifying his leadership credibility. His strategic vision and commitment to responsible business practices continue to enhance NTT's position on the global stage.
Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organisations make strategic decisions.
Headquartered in London, Brand Finance operates in over 25 countries. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 6,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes over 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.
Brand Finance also operates the Global Brand Equity Monitor, conducting original market research annually on 6,000 brands, surveying more than 175,000 respondents across 41 countries and 31 industry sectors. By combining perceptual data from the Global Brand Equity Monitor with data from its valuation database — the largest brand value database in the world — Brand Finance equips ambitious brand leaders with the data, analytics, and the strategic guidance they need to enhance brand and business value.
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance, compliant with ISO 20671.
Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm and a committed leader in the standardisation of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671 and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.
Brand is defined as a marketing-related intangible asset including, but not limited to, names, terms, signs, symbols, logos, and designs, intended to identify goods, services, or entities, creating distinctive images and associations in the minds of stakeholders, thereby generating economic benefits.
Brand strength is the efficacy of a brand’s performance on intangible measures relative to its competitors. Brand Finance evaluates brand strength in a process compliant with ISO 20671, looking at Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and the impact of those on Business Performance. The data used is derived from Brand Finance’s proprietary market research programme and from publicly available sources.
Each brand is assigned a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score out of 100, which feeds into the brand value calculation. Based on the score, each brand is assigned a corresponding Brand Rating up to AAA+ in a format similar to a credit rating.
Brand Finance calculates the values of brands in its rankings using the Royalty Relief approach – a brand valuation method compliant with the industry standards set in ISO 10668. It involves estimating the likely future revenues that are attributable to a brand by calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for its use, to arrive at a ‘brand value’ understood as a net economic benefit that a brand owner would achieve by licensing the brand in the open market.
The steps in this process are as follows:
1 Calculate brand strength using a balanced scorecard of metrics assessing Marketing Investment, Stakeholder Equity, and Business Performance. Brand strength is expressed as a Brand Strength Index (BSI) score on a scale of 0 to 100.
2 Determine royalty range for each industry, reflecting the importance of brand to purchasing decisions. In luxury, the maximum percentage is high, while in extractive industry, where goods are often commoditised, it is lower. This is done by reviewing comparable licensing agreements sourced from Brand Finance’s extensive database.
3 Calculate royalty rate. The BSI score is applied to the royalty range to arrive at a royalty rate. For example, if the royalty range in a sector is 0-5% and a brand has a BSI score of 80 out of 100, then an appropriate royalty rate for the use of this brand in the given sector will be 4%.
4 Determine brand-specific revenues by estimating a proportion of parent company revenues attributable to a brand.
5 Determine forecast revenues using a function of historic revenues, equity analyst forecasts, and economic growth rates.
6 Apply the royalty rate to the forecast revenues to derive brand revenues.
7 Discount post-tax brand revenues to a net present value which equals the brand value.
Brand Finance has produced this study with an independent and unbiased analysis. The values derived and opinions presented in this study are based on publicly available information and certain assumptions that Brand Finance used where such data was deficient or unclear. Brand Finance accepts no responsibility and will not be liable in the event that the publicly available information relied upon is subsequently found to be inaccurate. The opinions and financial analysis expressed in the study are not to be construed as providing investment or business advice. Brand Finance does not intend the study to be relied upon for any reason and excludes all liability to any body, government, or organisation.
The data presented in this study form part of Brand Finance's proprietary database, are provided for the benefit of the media, and are not to be used in part or in full for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.
