Telstra debuts in top 100 global brands

Telstra has landed in the global top 100 most valuable brands for the first time.

BrandZ estimated the Australian telco's brand to be worth $12.7 billion, which was enough for No.82 on the annual list (check out the top 20 tech players here).

Other Australian companies include Commonwealth Bank at No.48 with $20.5 billion, ANZ Bank in No.59 with $17.7 billion, Westpac at No.84 with $12.4 billion and Woolworths coming in No.87 with $11.8 billion.

A Telstra spokesperson said: “We see the ranking reflecting our growing international presence and recognising how our strong focus on customer advocacy is giving us a competitive edge both locally and internationally.”

Telecom providers had a large presence on the list, accounting for 12 of the top 100. The biggest brands were US telcos AT&T and Verizon, coming in at No.6 and No.7 respectively.

A newcomer to the list was Huawei, which entered the telecom infrastructure market this year, investing $600 million in 5G technology research. The Chinese vendor came in at No.70 with a brand value of $15.3 billion.

The No.1 spot went to Apple, which regained top billing from Google with a brand value of $246 billion.