O2 (UK) sale units, and with handset manufacturers, such as Apple and Samsung, to enable NFC technology on all future devices. On 23 February 2011, O2 announced it would launch a "second phase" for O2 Money, by discontinuing its branded cash cards in favour of a "mobile wallet" application for Android and iOS devices. The application would use NFC technology embedded in a phone to access money. It was announced on 9 January 2014 that the O2 wallet service would close on 31 March 2014. The BT Cellnet consumer brand was renamed O – the chemical symbol for an oxygen molecule –
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