Haji-Ioannou outlined his plans for easyMobile yesterday, revealing that Orange, owned by France Telecom, had threatened to stop him using the colour orange as part of the new firm's branding.
According to reports, the two companies are in talks to avoid a lengthy legal battle but Orange is showing signs it will not give in easily. A spokesperson for the company said: "It is creating confusion. We will do whatever necessary to protect our customers' best interests."
However, Haji-Ioannou was also talking tough. "I am confident we have the right to use the colour orange and I'm going to enforce that in court if I have to. I believe the only motivation of Orange in making these threats is because they are afraid of competition," he told reporters.
EasyMobile faces another problem in that it does not have a UK network to carry its calls. Haji-Ioannou has made a deal with the Danish telecoms company TDC to launch easyMobile in 12 European countries but that does not include the UK. TDC will manage billing and network operations for easyMobile, earning a royalty every time a customer is signed up.
As with other business in the easy group, the internet is at the heart of easyMobile's operations. The company will only sell SIM cards and cheap airtime and will not have any high-street shops or sell handsets.
Haji-Ioannou has outlined plans for further easy brand extensions including easyPizza, easyHotel, easyCruises and a range of toiletries called easy4men.
Easy's brand extensions have not always been successful. Two of the more well established firms, easyInternet Cafes and easyCar, are both still making losses. However, easyJet, in which Haji-Ioannou holds a 41% share with his brother and sister, continues to be a profitable.
If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .