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
O2 Money not preclude future partnerships with other banks. O2 Money has been described by Ronan Dunne, CEO at O2, as the first step in implementing NFC technology in mobile phones in the United Kingdom. The service received over 100,000 applications in the first seven weeks, making it the most successful financial card launch in the United Kingdom. Both cards were provided free and exclusive to O2 customers. A spokesman for O2 announced on 3 February 2011 the company’s plans to release a "mobile wallet" application, an NFC-powered mobile payment application for NFC-enabled smartphones in the second half of 2011. O2 has