Telefónica Germany

Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG

Type	GmbH & Co. OHG
Industry	Telecommunication
Predecessor	Viag Interkom (1995 (1995))
Founded	British Telecommunications 45%, VIAG 45% and Telenor 10%
Headquarters	Munich, Germany
Area served	Germany
Key people	René Schuster, CEO
Services	Telecommunications Internet Service Provider
Revenue	€3.745 billion (2009 (2009)
Employees	5288 (2010 (2010))
Parent	Telefónica Europe
Website	www.telefonica.de www.o2online.de

Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG is a leading provider of broadband and telecommunications in Germany. The company trades as O2 (typeset as O₂) and Alice. Previously Viag Interkom, it was acquired by Telefónica in 2006 (2006), and is a subsidiary of Telefónica Europe. With the closure of merger with HanseNet on April 1, 2011 the company renamed from Telefónica O2 Germany to Telefónica Germany.

History

Viag Interkom

O2's German headquarters in Munich.

Originally launched in 1995 (1995) as Viag Interkom, it was a joint venture between British Telecommunications (45%), VIAG (45%) and Telenor (10%).

In 2001 (2001), BT acquired VIAGs remaining shares for €11.4 billion, and the company was renamed BT Germany, it became a part of BT Wireless, a group of subsidiary companies owned by BT.

In 2001 (2001), BT Germany demerged from BT and was relaunched as O2 Germany, a subsidiary of mmO2 plc.

In 2011 (2011), Telefónica O2 Germany merged with HanseNet and renamed the merged company to Telefónica Germany.

Products

Telefónica Germany operates second and third generation mobile networks, allowing customers to use GPRS, EDGE, UMTS and HSDPA for data connections. Most of O2 plans are available both in a pre- and post-paid version, including the all-in-one-flatrates called o2 o and o2 on for enterprise customers. Beside the core business, Telefónica Germany is one of the largest retailers for cell phones and tablets without a SIM lock. It was the first operator offering both Apple's iPhone 4 and the iPad 2.^[1] Also, Telefónica Germany offers hosting services for large and midsized companies, serving some well-known portals including Spiegel Online and Sevenload.^[2] Together with Microsoft and Visionapp, Telefonica Germany provides a cloud service for Hosted Exchange.^[3]

Competition

• Aldi Talk (using E-Plus)
• E-Plus
• Ortel Mobile (using E-Plus)
• Simyo (using E-Plus)
• T-Mobile
• TELE2 Mobile (using ?)
• Vodafone
• Yukoono (using Vodafone)

Further reading

• Telefónica
• Telefónica Europe

References

1. ^ O2 offering iPad 2 for Business Customers, Netzwelt, last access on October 22nd, 2011 (german)
2. ^ Telefónica Germany founds Hosting Subsidiary (press release)
3. ^ Review of o2 Hosted Exchange E-Mail Service (german)

External links

• Official website