Telefónica Europe plc

Telefónica Europe plc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Telefónica S.A., comprises mobile network operators in the UK, Ireland and Slovakia, along with integrated fixed/mobile businesses in Germany, the Czech Republic (Telefónica O2 Czech Republic) and the Isle of Man (Manx Telecom).  It also owns 50% of the Tesco Mobile and Tchibo Mobilfunk joint venture businesses in the UK and Germany respectively.

O2 has one of the most active customer bases for data and online content in Europe. More than 40% of 30 million customers of O2's businesses in the UK, Germany and Ireland are using data services on a regular basis.

The company was the first in the world to launch and rollout a commercial GPRS (or 2.5G) network. During 2004/05, O2 launched 3G consumer and business services in Germany, the UK and Ireland. O2 became the first operator to have a working 3G network in Europe on the Isle of Man and launched Europe's first commercial High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) on the island in November, 2005. 

Building on the O2 brand, the company aims to become the mobile operator of choice through a commitment to offering high quality products and services as well as leading customer retention and loyalty programmes. O2 is committed to demonstrating clearly and powerfully what customers 'can do' with new data services, devices and technology.

Telefónica Europe plc is headquartered in Slough, UK and has more than 29,000 employees across the Group. 

Telefónica Europe plc performed strongly throughout 2007, in increasingly competitive European markets, and now has more than 41 million fixed and mobile customers across Europe. At the end of the fourth quarter, ended 31 December 2007, the company reported an 9.9% growth and revenues of 14 billion Euros.