Millicom International Cellular (MIC) has unveiled a new brand for its cable, broadband and pay-TV services to highlight the broader range of offerings available from the group’s fixed line units. The new ‘Tigo Star’ brand was launched in Paraguay earlier this week and will be rolled out to El Salvador and Costa Rica later this month, before being applied across the rest of the company’s Latin American footprint. In its press release, the company noted that its prominent Tigo name was associated primarily with its mobile operations whilst its cable and entertainment businesses have had a lower profile. Marketing the new brand, MIC said it plans to show the Tigo Star logo alongside images of films and popular TV shows, so that viewers will recognise the company for its content as well as its delivery platform. MIC’s president and CEO Hans-Holger Albrecht commented on the rebranding exercise: ‘Tigo Star lights up the Tigo brand to show consumers how we offer a complete digital lifestyle that includes compelling entertainment and broadband services. Cable and entertainment is one of our four strategic growth pillars and the launch of Tigo Star is a significant step as we execute our plan to boost revenues in this category.’
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, recent years have seen MIC complete a number of deals for Latin American cablecos in an effort to broaden the appeal of its Tigo units. In July 2012, MIC acquired 100% of cable TV/broadband operator Cablevision Paraguay from Argentina’s Grupo Clarin, the largest media conglomerate in Argentina, for an enterprise value of USD150 million; the deal concluded in October 2012. More recently, in November 2013 the company acquired Bolivian cable TV provider Multivision for USD20 million.