BT launched new pay-monthly contract plans with “the latest phones from the big brands” under its BT Mobile badge, shortly after completing its £12.5 billion takeover of EE, as part of its plan to “pursue a multi-brand strategy”.

A company spokesperson told Mobile World Live that BT believes “the EE and BT Mobile brands appeal to different types of customers”, adding the move allows it to “reward our loyal broadband customers with discounts on mobile”.

The new deals see BT offer new and existing customers pay monthly deals starting from £25 a month, with a £5 discount for BT broadband households. Three plans are available, with mobile data allowances of 500MB, 2GB and 15GB.

Devices available include Apple’s iPhone 6s, Samsung’s Galaxy S7 and Sony’s Xperia X.

BT confirmed its return to UK consumer mobile market in March last year, running mobile services including 4G data on EE’s network. But up until now, it was focused on low-cost SIM only deals, starting at £5 a month for its broadband customers.

Notably, the service did see rapid uptake, with more than 200,000 customers signing up within the first six months of launch.

Since then, of course, the UK incumbent completed the acquisition of EE, UK’s market leader. It has been suggested it could be planning to drop the EE brand altogether.

Carrie Pawsey, senior analyst at Ovum, believes the BT name will be used for its new quad play proposition, bundling together a range of services, while EE will be used as a pure mobile play.

The fact that it now also owns the EE network, and doesn’t use it as a wholesale partner, means the company “has much better economies of scale”.

“I think this is part of a wider strategy to keep both brands in market segments where they have strong brand recognition,” she said.

“To drop the EE brand would be foolish given the level of recognition it has in the market against the BT Mobile brand.”

BT said the next step for evolving its mobile offering will be supported “by a nationwide advertising campaign on TV, cinema, radio and posters, digital and social media”.