O2 (Ireland) BT Group and 1 mm02 share for each British Telecommunications share they held. After the de-merger, most of mmO2's operations, including Digifone, were rebranded O2. mmO2 plc later became O2 plc and remained an independent company until 2005. On 31 October 2005 it was announced that Telefónica, S.A., the Spanish telecommunications company, had made a recommended takeover bid for O Ireland's parent company, O2 plc. This was then approved by shareholders and O was officially purchased in mid February 2006. The O2 brand is now used in several countries for Telefónica's mobile operations outside Spain and Latin America, where Telefónica
State monopoly government monopoly run by the national government, although it may also refer to monopolies run by regional entities called "states" (notably the U.S. states). The most prominent example of a state the monopoly is law and the legitimate use of physical force. In many countries, the postal system is run by the government with competition forbidden by law in some or all services. Also, government monopolies on public utilities, telecommunications and railroads have historically been common, though recent decades have seen a strong privatization trend throughout the industrialized world. In Nordic countries some goods deemed harmful are distributed through a