SaltCopied

Orange Switzerland, the country's third telecom operator, was sold in December 2014 by British investment firm Apax to NJJ Capital, the personal holding company of French entrepreneur Xavier Niel, for 2.8 billion francs, as Le Temps recalled. Niel owned Free, the operator that shook up the French mobile market with cut price plans in 2012, so the rebrand was watched for signs of the same disruption in Switzerland.

The name had already leaked. RTS reported that its programme 26 Minutes had revealed in February that the operator would be called Salt, and the NZZ am Sonntag had guessed the same the weekend before the launch. The Renens based company confirmed it at a gala evening in Zurich on 23 April 2015, with the new name taking effect on 27 April. Le Temps added that Orange shops would close for 72 hours so signage could be changed, reopening the following Monday for the official commercial launch. Besides the name, RTS noted the switch to the colour green.

What did not change was more interesting. RTS headlined that Salt was not changing strategy: its catalogue and prices did not differ much from Orange's, and the price war many expected from Niel did not materialise. Chief executive Johan Andsjö had promised in the NZZ am Sonntag that there would be no price war. Instead the launch leaned on products: a Salt Pass billed as the simplest subscription on the market, offering unlimited national use and annual pricing from 699 to 1,699 francs; a Salt Pack bundling phone, smartphone, tablet and apps; Wi-Fi calling; and a six week money back guarantee. UPC's chief Eric Tveter told RTS the approach was unsurprising because Swiss consumers value quality.

With a new owner came a new name, and the real choices were what to call it and how loud to be. Salt is short, neutral and easy across Switzerland's languages, though it says nothing about telecoms. But a brand born from a Niel takeover that refuses to act like a Niel brand is a strange proposition: the identity looks like a challenger, while the price list says incumbent. That tension is the story here.