O2 (UK) 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 Securicor's share of Cellnet and the company was later rebranded as BT Cellnet. In June 2000, BT Cellnet launched the world's
Hughes Communications Hughes Communications Hughes Communications is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar, headquartered in Germantown, Maryland. It provides satellite-based internet and television services under the HughesNet brand through satellites and satellite dishes it designs and manufactures. Hughes Communications was founded in 1971 in a garage in Rockville, Maryland. The company was sold to Microwave Associates in 1977, forming a combined entity called Macom Technology Solutions (MA/COM). MA/COM was then sold to Hughes Aircraft Company, which spun MA/COM off as a public company called Hughes Communications in 2007. EchoStar acquired Hughes Communications in 2011 for about $2 billion. Hughes Communications was founded