3 2 Other symmetries that can simultaneously accommodate the pattern of quark and lepton mixing have been also considered in 5D contexts [30, 31] and in models compatible with an underlying GUT structure [32]. the quark sector, but not to large mixing angles like those observed in the neutrino sector. This was recently shown not to be necessarily true [23], and a realization of neutrino masses within this framework and with a realistic dark matter candidate was presented in [18]. An alternative approach to differentiate the quark and lepton spectra is to assume a global symmetry acting on the leptonic sector. 4D models of neutrino masses with an A$_{4}$ symmetry [24, 25] can predict a tri-bimaximal (TBM) [26] pattern of lepton mixing to lead- ing order (LO), what agrees quite well with observation [27, 28]. This global symmetry can be also implemented in simple models with warped extra dimensions [29]. 2 Such a construction presents an advantage over 4D models since the mass hierarchy follows from wave-function overlapping, geometrically realizing the required Frogatt-Nielsen mass gener- ation in 4D models. Besides, it also improves other 5D models that solely rely on the former for it has an extra built-in flavor protection due to the discrete A$_{4}$ symmetry. Our goal is to extend this set-up to models of gauge-Higgs unification (GHU), which are arguably the most natural models of EWSB in warped extra dimensions. We will show that, despite some subtleties related to the way fermions acquire non-trivial Yukawa couplings in GHU models [13], it is easy to find examples that naturally generate a realistic fermion spectrum also in the lepton sector. Two new features phenomenologically relevant come out from our analysis. First, due to an extra suppression of the leptonic Yukawa couplings implied by the A$_{4}$ symmetry, the τ lepton is typically more composite than one would naively expect from its mass. This makes new leptonic resonances at the electroweak scale a likely occurrence in these models. Besides, as they come in two almost degenerate doublets with hypercharges − 1 / 2 and − 3 / 2, respectively, and mainly couple to τ , they provide a very distintive signature at LHC for they only decay through definite channels and into τ leptons. This structure is dictated by the same symmetry that protects the Z ¯ b$_{L}$b$_{L}$ coupling in this type of models [9], which in the leptonic sector protects the Standard Model (SM) lepton couplings despite the large new lepton couplings to τ [33]. Second, the A$_{4}$ symmetry together with the protecting mechanism above [34, 35] result in a double-layer flavor protection. Thus, lepton flavor violation (LFV) mediated by tree-level exchange of heavy modes is further suppressed,