Mobilcom-Debitel: Freenet abolishes well-known mobile communications brand

Mobilcom-Debitel, a well-known brand in the mobile communications segment, will soon no longer exist. Mobile communications provider Freenet has announced that its own subsidiary brand will be discontinued. As early as July 2022, all existing products and services will be offered only under the Freenet name.

Mobilcom-Debitel to be abolished

“freenet AG is continuing to consolidate its brand portfolio in order to strengthen its umbrella brand and expand awareness. For this reason, the main brand mobilcom-debitel, one of the leading telecommunications providers in Germany, will also bear the name freenet in the future,” reads the announcement from the mobile provider dated February 24.

The brand transition is expected to be completed in the coming months, across all of the digital lifestyle provider’s “analog and digital channels.” By July 2022, the majority of Mobilcom-Debitel’s own 550 stores will then have been transformed.

Initial tests in January with stores temporarily branded as Freenet have been positive, the report continues. According to its own information, the provider currently has 7.2 million customers in Germany in the mobile communications sector alone.

Mobilcom-Debitel GmbH, headquartered in Büdelsdorf (Schleswig-Holstein), was founded by Gerhard Schmid back in 1991. In 2011, Freenet took over its competitor Debitel, which had previously been merged with Talkline. In the process, Freenet’s former mobile communications subsidiary Mobilcom Communikationstechnik was renamed Mobilcom-Debitel GmbH and the acquired Debitel AG was renamed Mobilcom-Debitel AG. In the same year, the stock corporation was fully merged into the GmbH.

Freenet Mobilcom-Debitel acquired Media Broadcast in March 2016 for around EUR 295 million, which, in addition to radio broadcasting in the FM and DAB+ standards, has since marketed DVB-T2 HD in particular under the Freenet TV brand.