O2 (UK) telephone line and broadband business of Telefónica UK, trading under the O2 and Be brands. The company agreed to pay £180 million initially, followed by a further £20 million after all customers had been transferred to Sky's existing business. The sale was subject to regulatory approval in April 2013, and was subsequently approved by the Office of Fair Trading on 16 May 2013. O2 began trialling a Near Field Communication (NFC) payment system in 2007. In 2009, O2 was in discussions with large retailers, such as Tesco and W. H. Smith, for the deployment of the necessary electronic point of
Zündwaren monopoly Zündwaren monopoly The German Zündwaren monopoly (translated Monopoly for Safety Matches) began in 1930 when Germany's Reichstag passed a bill named "Zündwarenmonopolgesetz" ("Safety Matches Monopoly Law"), which allowed the "Deutsche Zündwaren-Monopolgesellschaft" (translated "German Society for the Safety Matches Monopoly") exclusive rights to distribute safety matches within the borders of the German Empire. The only brands the "Deutsche Zündwaren-Monopolgesellschaft" could distribute were "Welthölzer" ("World Matches") and "Haushaltsware" ("Household article"). Local German manufacturers obtained licenses to produce preassigned volumes to sell domestically and were not allowed to export these matches or to establish new firms. The official monopoly had been acquired by