O2 (UK) they can do it too" in reference to Vodafone and EE, O2's biggest competitors and the UK's top three mobile-telecoms companies. O2 (UK) Telefónica UK Limited (trading as O2 – stylised as O) is a telecommunications services provider in the United Kingdom, owned by the Spanish multinational Telefónica, and is headquartered in Slough. With 25 million subscribers (as of December 2017), O2 is the second-largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom after EE, with Vodafone in third place. O2 was formed in 1985 as Cellnet, a 60:40 joint venture between BT Group and Securicor. In 1999, BT Group acquired
Mobal Communications Mobal Communications Mobal Communications is a telecommunications company that provides international cell phone and satellite phone service. The United Kingdom and Japan divisions are named Mobell Communications. The company was founded by current chairman Tony Smith. Mobal (under the name Mobell) was created in the mid 1980s from a UK company called Torrent. Torrent was an industrial tool rental company serving the construction industry. When cellular phones first became commercially available Mobal started renting these to construction companies to use on work sites. The company subsequently sold off the tool rental business, and form a new company solely renting cell