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 (Ireland) O2 (Ireland) Telefónica Ireland was a broadband and telecommunications provider in Ireland that traded under the O2 brand (typeset as O). O2 Ireland was previously called Esat Digifone when it was owned by Esat Telecommunications (and Telenor) from 1997 to 2006. O2 Ireland became a subsidiary of Telefónica in 2006, after its parent company O2 in the United Kingdom was purchased. In June 2013, Hutchison Whampoa announced it would acquire the Irish arm of O2 for €780m. O2 was merged into Hutchison Whampoa's subsidiary Three Ireland in March 2015. In 1995 the then government, with Michael Lowry as Minister for