O2 (business)
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Private (subsidiary of Telefónica) |
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| Industry |
Telecommunications Broadband Internet access Financial services Pay television |
| Predecessor | 1985 (Cellnet) 1999 (BT Cellnet) 2001 (mmO2 plc) 2005 (O2 plc) |
| Headquarters | Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom |
|
Number of locations
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3,010 (2005) |
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Area served
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United Kingdom Germany |
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Key people
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José María Álvarez-Pallete López (CEO and Chairman) |
| Revenue |
 € 13.533 billion (2009) |
|
Number of employees
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29,366 (2006) |
| Parent | Telefónica |
| Divisions | Telecommunication |
| Subsidiaries |
O2 (United Kingdom) O2 (Germany) |
| Website | www |
Telefónica Europe plc was a European broadband and telecommunications company that traded as O2 (typeset as O2). The company originated as a collection of worldwide telecommunications companies, known in the later half of the 1990s as BT Wireless, and a global mobile data business known then as Genie Internet, both subsidiaries of British Telecommunications.
Telefónica Europe provided mobile telephony operations in the United Kingdom and Germany, and licensed its brand to former operations in Ireland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. O2 has additionally established a joint venture with Tesco Mobile in the United Kingdom, Ireland and in Slovakia, and the Tchibo Mobilfunk network in Germany.
As part of a reorganisation of Telefónica in 2014, Telefónica Europe's holdings and operations became direct subsidiaries of its parent. Telefónica Europe's subsidiaries continue to operate under the O2 brand.
Originally launched in January 1985, Cellnet was launched as a subsidiary of Telecom Securicor Cellular Radio Limited, a 60:40 venture between British Telecommunications and Securicor respectively.
In 1999, BT purchased Securicor's shares in Cellnet for £3.15 billion, Securicor originally invested £4 million in Cellnet in 1983, the company was later rebranded as BT Cellnet, and it became a part of BT Wireless, a group of subsidiary companies owned by BT. BT invested £2 billion in BT Cellnet, and in 2000, BT Cellnet had over 6 million customers.
In October 2001, at a general meeting held in Birmingham, 4.297 billion BT shares voted in favour of BT Cellnet's demerger from BT, with 0.67 million shares voting against. In 2001, BT Cellnet demerged from BT and was relaunched on 1 May 2002 as O2.
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Wikipedia