Public | |
ISIN | CZ0009093209 |
Industry | Telecommunications |
Founded | 2006 (merger of Český Telecom & Eurotel) |
Headquarters | Michle, Prague, Czech Republic |
Products | Voice, Internet access, Mobile communications services & related goods, ICT |
Revenue | Kč 44.68 billion (2014) |
Kč 16.01 billion (2014) | |
Kč 3.99 billion (2014) | |
Total assets | Kč 31 billion (VI/2015) |
Total equity | Kč16 billion (VI/2015) |
Owner | PPF |
Number of employees
|
3,461 (VI/2015) |
Subsidiaries | O2 Slovakia; Telefónica Business Solutions; Czech Telecom Austria GmbH; Czech Telecom Germany GmbH |
Website | www |
O2 Czech Republic (operating under the O2 brand) is a major integrated operator in the Czech Republic. It is now operating more than six million lines, both fixed and mobile, making it one of the Czech Republic’s leading providers of fully converged services. O2 Czech Republic operates a fixed and mobile network including a 3rd generation network, CDMA (for data), UMTS and EDGE, enabling voice, data and video transmission. O2 Czech Republic is also a provider of ICT services
Previously two companies, fixed-line operator Český Telecom and mobile operator Eurotel, it was acquired by the Spanish company Telefónica in 2005 and merged into a single legal entity and given its present name on 1 July 2006.
In 2013 it was announced that Telefónica would sell its stake in the company to PPF and the company would continue to use the O2 brand for a maximum of four years.
As of 1 June 2015 the separation of O2 Czech Republic as two mutually independent companies has been in force. Therefore, there are now two new telecommunications companies with two different lines of business: the retail operator O2 and the wholesale infrastructure provider CETIN. The separation includes commercial and managerial leadership and management of both companies, including security, IT and control systems.
The company was initially known as SPT Telecom (Státní telekomunikační podnik, state-owned telecommunications company), and used to have a monopoly for providing fixed-line services. It was reorganized and renamed Český Telecom (Czech Telecom), after the Velvet Divorce saw Czechoslovakia separate into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
Its mobile subsidiary, Eurotel, was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between SPT (51%) and the American joint-venture Atlantic West (between US WEST International, Inc. and Bell Atlantic International Inc.). On launch, it received an exclusive five-year licence to operate a public data network, and a 20-year licence for the 450 MHz band to operate an analogue NMT mobile phone network, and automatically also a right to buy a licence to the future GSM network.