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
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