O₂ UK (legally incorporated as Telefonica UK Limited, stylized as O₂) is a British
telecommunications services provider, headquartered in
Slough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
, England. It operates under the
O2 brand. It is owned by
Virgin Media O2
Virgin Media O2 (legally incorporated as VMED O2 UK Limited) is a British mass media and telecommunications company based in London, England. The company was formed in June 2021 as a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica t ...
, a 50:50 joint venture between
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
and
Liberty Global
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
. O2 is the UK's
largest mobile network operator, with 31.3 million subscribers as of September 2021.
History
Overview
The company was formed on 7 January 1985 as Cellnet, a 60:40
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
between
BT Group
BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, broa ...
and
Securicor
Securicor plc was one of the United Kingdom's largest security businesses. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged with Group 4 Falck in 2004.
History
The Company was founded by Edward Shortt, a former Liberal Cabinet Minister, ...
. Cellnet was one of the first two mobile networks in the UK, alongside Vodafone. In 1999, BT acquired Securicor's share of Cellnet and the company was later rebranded as BT Cellnet. In June 2000, BT Cellnet launched the world's first commercial
General Packet Radio Service
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a packet oriented mobile data standard on the 2G and 3G cellular communication network's global system for mobile communications (GSM). GPRS was established by European Telecommunications Standards Inst ...
(GPRS) service. The company, together with BT Group's mobile telecommunications businesses in Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands, was part of the BT Wireless division. This was spun off from the BT Group in 2002 to form a new holding company, mmO2 plc, which introduced the new "O2" brand for the businesses. In 2005, mmO2 plc was renamed O2 plc.
O₂ plc was purchased by the Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica in 2006 for £18 billion. Under the terms of the acquisition, Telefónica agreed to retain the "O₂" brand and the company's UK headquarters. O2 plc was renamed Telefónica O₂ Europe in 2007 and then Telefónica Europe plc in 2008, and became the holding company for Telefónica's operations in the UK.
In May 2020, Telefónica reached an agreement with
Liberty Global
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
to merge the company with
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
. On 1 June 2021, O2 and Virgin Media formally merged to create
Virgin Media O2
Virgin Media O2 (legally incorporated as VMED O2 UK Limited) is a British mass media and telecommunications company based in London, England. The company was formed in June 2021 as a 50:50 joint venture between Liberty Global and Telefónica t ...
as a joint venture between Telefónica and Liberty Global. and structured as a joint venture between Telefónica and Liberty Global.
1985 to 2005
Between 1985 and 1989, John Carrington was the
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of
British Telecom
BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...
's Mobile Division and the Chairman of Cellnet. It was during this period that Carrington launched Cellnet's first cellular service, following innovative development work by BT Spectrum, who built a chain of cells between London Heathrow and BT Tower in January 1985.
Cellnet was established in 1985 as a joint subsidiary of BTCR, British Telecom Cellular Radio, providing the engineering knowledge, and TSCR, Telecom Securicor Cellular Radio Limited, providing the financial investment, resulting in a 60:40
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
between
British Telecommunications
BT Group plc (trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is the largest provider of fixed-line, bro ...
and
Securicor
Securicor plc was one of the United Kingdom's largest security businesses. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but merged with Group 4 Falck in 2004.
History
The Company was founded by Edward Shortt, a former Liberal Cabinet Minister, ...
.
The equipment used was primarily a
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...
system designed for the American
Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) and had to be adapted for the British system,
Total Access Communication
Total Access Communication Public Company Limited, commonly known as DTAC is a GSM mobile phone company in Thailand. It is the nation's third largest GSM phone company, after AIS and True. DTAC is owned by Norwegian company Telenor both direct ...
(TACS). The system was so unready that the initials that Motorola used to designate the network exchanges, EMX, became popularly known as 'European Motorola Experiment' and the exchanges had to be programmed in machine code loaded by tape. In the early days of the system, mobile calls cost £1 per minute.
After months of rumours and speculation,
Peter Bonfield
Sir Peter Leahy Bonfield (born 3 June 1944) is a business executive who has led a number of companies in the fields of electronics, computers and communications. Currently a director of several companies in the USA, Europe and the Far East, he ...
publicly announced on 27 July 1999 that BT had agreed to buy Securicor's 40 per cent share of Cellnet for £3.15 billion. Cellnet had five million customers at the time of its acquisition.
The company was rebranded as BT Cellnet in 2000, and it became a part of BT Wireless, a group of companies owned by BT.
BT announced on 3 September 2001 that the BT Wireless business would be spun off from the main group as a newly listed holding company, mmO2 plc, operating under the "O2" brand. Shareholders approved the plan at an
extraordinary general meeting
An extraordinary general meeting, commonly abbreviated as EGM, is a meeting of members of an organisation, shareholders of a company, or employees of an official body that occurs at an irregular time.' The term is usually used where the group wou ...
on 23 October 2001. BT Cellnet relaunched as "O2" on 18 June 2002, along with other former BT subsidiaries:
Esat Digifone
Telefónica Ireland was a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland that traded under the O2 brand (typeset as O2). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by Esat Telecommunications (and Telenor) from 1997 ...
in Ireland,
Viag Interkom in Germany and
Telfort Mobiel in the Netherlands.
The rebranding was supported by a European advertising campaign, which began on 16 April 2002, across all four countries, at a cost of £130 million. The main launch campaign ran from 18 June and was developed by Vallance Carruthers Coleman Priest, working alongside brand consultancy
Lambie-Nairn
Superunion is a global brand and design consultancy, headquartered in London. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP. Superunion was formed after five agencies merged in January 2018, and employs 500 people across 16 offices. , creators of the "O2" brand identity.
In March 2005, mmO2 restructured its shares and the company was relisted as O2 plc.
Telefónica acquisition
On 30 November 2005, O2 agreed to a takeover by
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...
, a Spanish telecommunications company, for £17.7 billion (£2 per share) in cash. It went through finally in 2006. According to the merger announcement, O2 retained its name and continued to be based in the United Kingdom, keeping both the brand and the management team. The merger became unconditional on 23 January 2006.
Following the acquisition of O2, Telefónica undertook a corporate organisational change that saw the merging of its fixed and mobile businesses in Spain, and the transfer of Telefónica's non-Spanish European telecommunications properties into the O2 brand. Thus, the
Český Telecom
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 co ...
and
Eurotel operations in the Czech Republic as well as the
Telefónica Deutschland business in Germany were brought under the control of O2, which retained its UK-registered public company status with its own board of directors and corporate structures and processes. Telefónica chose to keep its existing mobile phone operations in the rest of the world under the brand
Movistar
Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar+) in Spain. Movistar is ...
. This name is used in Spain and in most of the Latin American countries, operated by a separate management team.
Since 2007
On 15 July 2009, O2 entered the
financial services
Financial services are the Service (economics), economic services provided by the finance industry, which encompasses a broad range of businesses that manage money, including credit unions, banks, credit-card companies, insurance companies, acco ...
industry with the launch of
O2 Money
O2 Money is a range of financial services provided by O2 in the United Kingdom.
Launched on 15 July 2011, O2 Money debuted as line of Visa cash cards issued by O2 and provided by NatWest. The cards enabled O2 customers to use digital currency ...
, which was the first step in the process of incorporating financial services into
mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...
s. Future plans included manufacturing
Near Field Communication
Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be u ...
(NFC) technology in mobile phones in the United Kingdom.
O2 and
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
signed a deal in June 2012 which will see the two companies 'pool' their network technology, creating a single national grid of 18,500
transmitter
In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...
sites. Both networks will continue to carry their own independent mobile spectrum.
Sale attempts
On 24 November 2014, it was reported that BT were in talks to buy back O2, while at the same time BT confirmed that it was also in talks to buy
EE. BT subsequently entered into exclusive talks with EE.
On 23 January 2015,
Li Ka-shing
Sir Ka-shing Li (; born 13 June 1928) is a Hong Kong billionaire business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. As of June 2019, Li is the 31st richest person in the world, with an estimated net wealth of US$33.4 billion. He is the senior ad ...
, owner of
Hutchison Whampoa
Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...
and the
Three
3 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
3, three, or III may also refer to:
* AD 3, the third year of the AD era
* 3 BC, the third year before the AD era
* March, the third month
Books
* '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...
network (which
operates in the UK) entered talks to buy O2 for up to £10.25bn ($15.4bn). However, the move faced scrutiny from competition regulators as it would reduce the number of major operators in the UK, when combined with a potential purchase of EE by BT, from four to three. Hutchison Whampoa had previously acquired the O2 network from Telefónica in the Republic of Ireland, which it has since merged into Three. The combined network would have surpassed EE to create the largest mobile network in the UK.
The deal was subject to regulatory approval.
The European Commission decided in December 2015 not to refer Hutchison's takeover of Telefónica's O2 business in the UK to the country's
Competition and Markets Authority
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...
, which had asked to be allowed to investigate the planned acquisition, arguing that as the British competition regulator, it – and not the Commission – should have the right to rule on the transaction, which it argued 'threatens to affect significantly competition in the UK retail mobile and wholesale mobile markets', claiming that its investigation of the takeover would 'avoid duplication and fragmentation'. On 11 May 2016, the European Commission officially blocked the tie-up of O2 and Three, arguing that the merger would reduce consumer choice and lead to a higher cost of services.
In September 2016, Telefónica appointed a number of investment banks to sell the business to investors, ahead of a stock market flotation.
Merger with Virgin Media
On 7 May 2020, it was announced that Telefónica had agreed to merge Telefonica UK with
Liberty Global
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
subsidiary
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
, subject to approval, into a 50/50 joint venture. Subject to approval, the merger was slated for the middle of 2021. The merger was completed on 1 June 2021 with the newly merged company positioning itself as competition with BT.
Outages
In July 2012, O2 had to apologise to almost 8 million customers after a
network switching subsystem failure led to a 24-hour blackout of the service across the UK and Ireland. The problem, which prevented a third of its customers' phones registering on the network, also affected customers of
MVNO
A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile ...
networks
Tesco Mobile
Tesco Mobile Limited (trading as Tesco Mobile) is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. It is operated by British retailer Tesco, using the network O2 as its carrier except i ...
and
Giffgaff
Giffgaff (stylised "giffgaff") is marketed as a lower cost mobile phone flanker brand of Telefónica UK (trading as O2 UK), and was launched on 25 November 2009.
Products and services
At launch, Giffgaff's first product was a prepaid SIM c ...
. To apologise for this, O2 announced that it would be giving hundreds of thousands of its customers compensation for the issue. Pay monthly customers received a 10 per cent discount on their bill whereas Pay As You Go users received a 10 per cent refund on their first top up in September.
On 6 December 2018, a major disruption to the O2 network, caused by faulty software, left up to 32 million users (including those on MVNOs) without access to data services (on both 3G and 4G) for up to 24 hours. During the outage, some voice and text services suffered from congestion.
Network
![O2 Offices in Leeds](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/O2_Offices_in_Leeds.jpg)
BT Cellnet launched the world's first
GPRS network on 22 June 2000, although GPRS-enabled devices were uncommon at that time.
O2 publicly announced on 15 December 2009 that it had successfully demonstrated a
4G connection using
LTE technology installed in six masts in
Slough
Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...
. The technology, which was supplied by
Huawei
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
, achieved a peak downlink rate of 150
Mbps
In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits (bitrate), characters or symbols ( baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are mult ...
.
In January 2012, the company announced plans to provide free internet to millions of residents and visitors in central London, by launching Europe's largest free Wi-Fi zone, along with free Wi-Fi access for anyone on any network in and around every O2 retail store.
On 20 February 2013, Ofcom announced that O2 had been awarded spectrum in the 800 MHz band for 4G LTE coverage, bidding around £550 million for the spectrum. This spectrum came with a coverage obligation from Ofcom, and O2 is obliged to provide a mobile broadband service for indoor reception to at least 98 per cent of the UK population (expected to cover at least 99 per cent when outdoors) and at least 95 per cent of the population of each of the UK nations – England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales – by the end of 2017 at the latest. The 4G LTE service became available to customers in London, Leeds and Bradford on 29 August 2013, and expanded to a further ten cities by the end of the year.
On 27 March 2017, following the release of
iOS 10.3, O2 launched
VoLTE (4G) and
WiFi Calling
Generic Access Network (GAN) is a protocol that extends mobile voice, data and multimedia ( IP Multimedia Subsystem/Session Initiation Protocol (IMS/SIP)) applications over IP networks. Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) is the commercial name used by ...
for
iPhone 7
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are smartphones that were designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the tenth generation of the iPhone. They were announced on September 7, 2016, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Fr ...
and
iPhone 7 Plus
The iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are smartphones that were designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. They are the tenth generation of the iPhone. They were announced on September 7, 2016, at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Fran ...
users, and stated more devices would be eligible at a later date. The facility was later extended to other makes and models of mobile phone.
Former operations
Fixed line and broadband
Alongside mobile telephone services, the company also provided fixed line services and home broadband.
O2 purchased
Be Un Limited
Be Unlimited (also traded as Be There or simply BE and latterly known legally as Sky Home Communications Limited) was an Internet service provider in the United Kingdom between 2004 and 2014. Initially founded as an independent company by Boris ...
, an
internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
in the UK, for £50 million in June 2006. O2 retained the Be brand, and launched a separate O2-branded broadband service on 15 October 2007, using the Be network.
O2 announced in June 2011 a fibre optic broadband service designed to compete with the
BT Infinity
BT Superfast Fibre (formerly BT Infinity) is a broadband service in the United Kingdom provided by BT Consumer, the consumer sales arm of the BT Group. The underlying network is fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC), which uses optical fibre for all exce ...
product, using FTTC technology.
BSkyB
Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
agreed on 1 March 2013 to buy the fixed telephone line and broadband business of Telefonica UK, trading under the O2 and Be brands. The company agreed to pay £180 million initially, followed by a further £20 million after all customers had been transferred to Sky's existing business. The sale was subject to regulatory approval in April 2013, and was subsequently approved by the
Office of Fair Trading
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...
on 16 May 2013.
Payment system
O2 began trialling a
Near Field Communication
Near-field communication (NFC) is a set of communication protocols that enables communication between two electronic devices over a distance of 4 cm (1 in) or less. NFC offers a low-speed connection through a simple setup that can be u ...
(NFC) payment system in 2007. In 2009, O2 was in discussions with large retailers, such as
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
and
W. H. Smith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and ...
, for the deployment of the necessary electronic point of sale units, and with handset manufacturers, such as
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
and
Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
, to enable NFC technology on all future devices.
On 23 February 2011, O2 announced it would launch a "second phase" for O2 Money, by discontinuing its branded
cash cards in favour of a "mobile wallet" application for
Android and
iOS
iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...
devices. The application would use NFC technology embedded in a phone to access money.
It was announced on 9 January 2014 that the O2 wallet service would close on 31 March 2014.
Marketing
Branding
The BT Cellnet consumer
brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...
was renamed O
2 – the chemical symbol for an
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
molecule
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...
– as were all the group's other businesses (other than
Manx Telecom
, logo =
, caption =
, type = Subsidiary
, location_city = Braddan
, location_country = Isle of Man
, area_served = Worldwide
, key_people = Gary Lamb Kevin Walsh
, industry = Tel ...
). The rebranding was overseen by the
Lambie-Nairn
Superunion is a global brand and design consultancy, headquartered in London. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP. Superunion was formed after five agencies merged in January 2018, and employs 500 people across 16 offices. design agency, which developed the idea of the company supplying services that were essential, much the same as oxygen is essential for life. The company logo and associated graphics were designed using air bubbles to present this concept. The bubbles were photographed by London-based photographer Jonathan Knowles.
O2 adopted the slogan "See what you can do" in 2002 after the company's demerger from BT. The slogan was later changed to "It's your O2" in May 2006, on 10 April 2008 to "We’re better, connected", in 2013 to "Be more dog", in 2016 to "More for you", and finally in 2020 to “We’re better, connected”. All of O2's marketing campaigns to date have been created by London advertising agency VCCP.
Sponsorships
O2 currently sponsor the
England rugby team, and in 2003 launched a mobile video service allowing customers to download or stream video content related to the
2003 Rugby World Cup
The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...
. The initial deal was signed in 1995, as Cellnet, and then renewed in 2000 as BT Cellnet. In 2005, Telefónica O2 extended their involvement in
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
, signing a new deal with the England rugby team and the
Rugby Football Union
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...
, as well as O2 rugbyclass and Premier Rugby Ltd for the
English Premiership
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
. Their latest renewal of the sponsorship was in 2016, which will run for five years until September 2021.
Additionally, Telefónica O2 had a long-standing relationship with
Arsenal F.C., being their shirt sponsor until the end of the
2005/2006 season. In 2005, a three-year deal was signed that saw Telefónica O2 become the team's exclusive mobile communications partner.
O2 were the main sponsor of the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...
reality TV show ''
Big Brother'' from its
second series (as BT Cellnet) in 2001 until its
fourth series in 2003. They also sponsored the spin-off shows ''
Celebrity Big Brother 2'' in 2002 and ''
Teen Big Brother'' in 2003. In total O2 sponsored five series of the show.
O2 sponsored music festivals, the
Wireless Festival
The Wireless Festival is a rap and urban music festival that takes place every year in London, England. It is owned and managed by Live Nation. While it started as primarily a rock and pop festival, in recent years it has focused on hip hop and ...
s, from their inception in 2005 until 2008.
Naming rights
![The O2 Arena, entrance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/The_O2_Arena%2C_entrance.jpg)
O2 is the sponsor of
The O2
The O2 is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars, and restaurants. It was built largely withi ...
in London. Since its launch in 2007 the
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...
has been transformed and rebranded by O2 into an entertainment venue.
The O2 Arena
The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...
was the site of the artistic gymnastics events and medal rounds in basketball for the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
.
In February 2017, in a continuation of its agreement with
AEG
Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft AG (AEG; ) was a German producer of electrical equipment founded in Berlin as the ''Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektricität'' in 1883 by Emil Rathenau. During the Second World War, AEG ...
, the developers of the site, O2 announced that it had renewed its naming rights for a further ten years.
Academy venues
Since 2008, O2 is partnered with
Live Nation
Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...
and the
Academy Music Group
Academy Music Group (AMG) is a leading owner-operator of music venues in the United Kingdom. They operate a number of medium-sized venues, the majority of which (until January 2009) took the name Carling Academy after their sponsor Carling. Som ...
, allowing O2 to rename the music venues. The partnership allows O2 to offer customers priority access to all events at O2 Academy venues as well as Live Nation promoted events across the United Kingdom. The partnership was renewed in 2017 for a further ten years.
O2 Academy venues:
*
O2 ABC Glasgow
The O2 ABC was a nightclub and music venue on Sauchiehall Street, in the centre of Glasgow, the largest city in Scotland. The building was constructed in 1875, renovated many times in its lifetime and also largely rebuilt in the 1920s. The buildi ...
*
O2 Academy Brixton
Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Wes ...
*
O2 Academy Leicester
The O2 Academy Leicester is a music venue located in the English City of Leicester on the University of Leicester campus.
O2 Academy Leicester is the second largest purpose built live music venue in the city with a 1,450 Capacity. In addition t ...
*
O2 Academy Sheffield
The O2 Academy Sheffield (formerly the Carling Academy Sheffield), is a live music venue in the centre of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is a £3 million refurbishment of the former "Roxy Nightclub" and opened on 11 April 2008.
*
O2 Academy Birmingham
O2 Academy Birmingham is a music venue located in Birmingham, West Midlands, England.
Former venue (until 2009)
Live music on the site of the O Academy Birmingham's former Dale End venue dates back to 1964 when the venue was first opened a ...
*
O2 Academy Glasgow
The O2 Academy Glasgow (formerly the Carling Academy Glasgow) is a music venue on Eglinton Street in the Gorbals ( Laurieston) area of Glasgow. It holds 2,500 people. It was one of two Academy Music Group venues in Glasgow, until the O2 ABC Gla ...
*
O2 Academy Liverpool
The O2 Academy Liverpool (formerly the L2 and Carling Academy Liverpool) is a music venue in Hotham Street, Liverpool, England, that is run by the Academy Music Group.
The main building consists of performance areas. O2 Academy1 can hold 1,200 ...
*
O2 Shepherds Bush Empire
Shepherd's Bush Empire (currently known as O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the BBC Television Theatre) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, West London, run by the Academy Music Group. It was originall ...
*
O2 Academy Bournemouth
*
O2 Academy Islington
The O2 Academy Islington, formerly known as the Carling Academy Islington, is an indoor music venue situated in the N1 Shopping Centre accessible via Upper Street and Liverpool Road, in the London Borough of Islington. It is run by the Academy ...
*
O2 Academy Newcastle
NX Newcastle, formerly known as the O2 Academy Newcastle, is a music venue in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It opened in the former Majestic Ballroom building on 14 October 2005 as the Carling Academy, and was renamed for Telefónica Europe's ...
*
O2 Academy Bristol
The O2 Academy Bristol (originally known as the Locarno and then Carling Academy Bristol) is a music venue located on Frogmore Street in Bristol, England. It is run by the Academy Music Group. On 1 January 2009 sponsorship was taken over from C ...
*
O2 Academy Leeds
The O2 Academy Leeds (formerly known as the Town and Country Club) is a music venue situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is run by the Academy Music Group, which has other music venues around the UK. The Academy was nominated for the ...
*
O2 Academy Oxford
The O2 Academy Oxford is a night club and live music venue in Oxford, England, operated by Academy Music Group.
Its previous names include the Coop Hall, the Oxford Venue, the Zodiac and the Carling Academy Oxford.
History Oxford Co-operative ...
Environmental record
In February 2009, O2 became the first mobile telecommunications provider to be certified with the
Carbon Trust Standard in recognition of its commitment to reduce its
carbon footprint
A carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an individual, event, organization, service, place or product, expressed as carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). Greenhouse gases, including the carbon-containing gases carbo ...
. O2 attained the standard after saving 47,000 tonnes of carbon over the previous three years through its energy efficiency measures, including a £1.4 million distribution of
smart metering technology across the company's
cell sites, offices and retail stores, and upgrades to more energy efficient systems across its
mobile phone network
A cellular network or mobile network is a communication network where the link to and from end nodes is wireless. The network is distributed over land areas called "cells", each served by at least one fixed-location transceiver (typically thre ...
. In addition to distributing energy efficient
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
lighting and
boiler system controls, the company was also able to reduce energy use by removing
air conditioning
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...
units from some of its cell sites and reducing
computer monitor
A computer monitor is an output device that displays information in pictorial or textual form. A discrete monitor comprises a visual display, support electronics, power supply, housing, electrical connectors, and external user controls.
The di ...
standby times.
O2 is a voluntary participant in the
10:10 climate change campaign, which required participants to cut their carbon emissions by 10 per cent by the end of 2010, and has since broadened its approach to include a range of projects focused on carbon reduction and
renewable energy
Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
.
Controversy
In July 2016 Cyber Security company Insinia raised fears that customer data from an O2 cyber breach was being sold on the
dark web
The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on ''darknets'': overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communi ...
. O2 denied this was true telling the BBC: "We have not suffered a data breach. Credential stuffing is a challenge for businesses and can result in many company's customer data being sold on the dark net".
In October 2017, an inquiry was launched in the UK concerning overcharging customers for handset sales integrated with the data and call charges. Responding to questions, O2's CEO indicated that the company's billing allows for separation of handset charges and telephony/data charges. He added that "if we can do it, they can do it too" in reference to Vodafone and EE, O2's biggest competitors and the UK's top three mobile-telecoms companies.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Virgin Media O2
British subsidiaries of foreign companies
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Telefónica
Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom
Companies based in Slough
Telecommunications companies established in 1983
Mobile phone companies of the United Kingdom
1983 establishments in England
2021 mergers and acquisitions