Vodafone becomes UK's most valuable brand

Vodafone has ousted HSBC as the UK's most valuable brand. The mobile operator piggybacked the banking giant to become the seventh most valuable brand globally, according to consultancy BrandFinance.

Its lofty position is likely to be less due to its activity in the UK market and more due to its global ambitions, which have taken it into network ownership and partnership details in emerging markets.

Vodafone's brand is now worth $29 billion, an increase of 18 per cent over 2009. The calculation by BrandFinance is based on discounted estimated future royalties which is used to calculate net present value of each company's trademark and associated intellectual property. The results are reported in the consultancy's Global500 index.

BrandFinance described the growth in brand value of the telecoms sector as "phenomenal", and it outperformed most other sectors. Vodafone leads the telecoms sector in brand value, ahead of US telcos AT&T and Verizon. Nokia bucked the upward trend with a decline in value in the year to present, with China Mobile retaining its position in fifth.

Google remains the most valuable brand in the IT and software market, ahead of Microsoft. Amazon rose from fifth to third.