O2 (officially Telefnica UK Limited, branded as O2) is a telecommunications and broadband internet access company in the United Kingdom owned

by Telefnica, forming part of its Telefnica Europe division. It is the second-largest mobile telecommunications provider in the United Kingdom (after Everything Everywhere).

O2 was formed in 1985 as Cellnet, a 60:40 joint venture between BT Group and Securicor.

On 31 November 2005, O2 agreed a takeover by Telefnica, a Spanish telecommunications company, for 17.7 billion (2 per share) in cash.[8] 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 O2's acquisition, Telefnica undertook a corporate organisational change that saw the merging of its fixed and mobile businesses in Spain, and the transfer of Telefnica's non-Spanish European telecommunications properties into the O2 brand. Thus, the esk Telecom and Eurotel operations in the Czech Republic as well as the Telefnica Deutschland business in Germany were brought under the control of O2, which retained its U.K.-registered public company status with its own board of directors and corporate structures and processes. Telefnica chose to keep its existing mobile phone operations in the rest of the world under the brand Movistar. This name is used in Spain and in most of Latin America countries, operated by a separate management team.

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. 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. In addition to distributing energy efficient LEDlighting and boiler system controls, the company was also able to reduce energy use by removing air conditioning units from some of its cell sites and reducing computer monitor standby times.[16]

O2 is a voluntary participant in the 10:10 climate change campaign, which requires participants to cut their carbon emissions by 10 percent by the end of 2010. The campaign was launched on 1 September 2009 at the Tate Modern in London, and now has 20,000 individual participants, 1,000 businesses, and 500 other bodies.[17]

O2 adopted the slogan "See what you can do" in 2002 after the company's demerger from BT Cellnet. The slogan was later changed to "It's your O2" in May 2006, and again on 10 April 2008 to "Were better, connected", as part of a brand refresh that cost 5 million.[18]

63986666.doc Issue: January 2009