O2 Store O2 Store The O2 Store is a chain of retail stores operated by Telefónica Europe, specializing in mobile phones. As of January 2014, O2 has opened over 450 stores in the United Kingdom. O2 Stores come in 2 formats - Franchise and Retail. The latter are owned and maintained by O2 UK directly, as opposed to private investors. The majority of stores have an O2 Guru, effectively a Technical Specialist. This free service is offered to all consumers, whether they are a Telefonica customer or not. Aside from general information, mobile phones are the central motive for visiting an O2
O2 (UK) 23 January 2015, Li Ka-shing, owner of Hutchison Whampoa and the Three network (which operates in the UK) entered talks to buy O2 for up to £10.25bn ($15.4bn). However, the move faced tough scrutiny from competition regulators as it would reduce the number of major operators in the UK, when combined with a potential purchase of EE by BT, from four to three. Hutchison Whampoa had previously acquired the O2 network from Telefónica in the Republic of Ireland, which it has since merged into Three. The combined network would have surpassed EE to create the largest mobile network in the