O2 Czech Republic (operating under the O₂ brand) is a major integrated operator in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. It is now operating more than six million lines, both fixed and mobile, making it one of the Czech Republic’s leading providers of fully converged services. O2 Czech Republic operates a fixed and mobile network including a 3rd generation network,

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

(for data),

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...

and

EDGE Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed ...

, enabling voice, data and video transmission. O2 Czech Republic is also a provider of ICT services. Previously two companies, fixed-line operator Český Telecom and mobile operator

Eurotel Eurotel was the trade name of the first mobile phone network in Czechoslovakia. Given the possibility of a forthcoming of split of Czechoslovakia into two separate countries, Eurotel was formed as two separate legal entities: Eurotel Praha and E ...

, it was acquired by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

company

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

in 2005 and merged into a single legal entity and given its present name on 1 July 2006. In 2013 it was announced that Telefónica would sell its stake in the company to PPF and the company would continue to use the O₂ brand for a maximum of four years.Telefónica Agrees the Sale of Telefónica Czech Republic to PPF for 2,467 mln euros
In August 2017 the brand license agreement was extended to 2022, with a 5 year extension to 2027 available.

History

The company was initially known as SPT Telecom (''Státní telekomunikační podnik'', state-owned telecommunications company), and used to have a monopoly for providing fixed-line services. It was reorganized and renamed ''Český Telecom'' (Czech Telecom), after the

Velvet Divorce The dissolution of Czechoslovakia ( cs, Rozdělení Československa, sk, Rozdelenie Česko-Slovenska) took effect on December 31, 1992, and was the self-determined split of the federal republic of Czechoslovakia into the independent countries o ...

saw

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

separate into the Czech Republic and

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

in 1993. Its mobile subsidiary, Eurotel, was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between SPT (51%) and the American joint-venture Atlantic West (between US WEST International, Inc. and

Bell Atlantic Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas i ...

International Inc.). On launch, it received an exclusive five-year licence to operate a public data network, and a 20-year licence for the 450 MHz band to operate an analogue NMT mobile phone network, and automatically also a right to buy a licence to the future GSM network. In 2001, it won a license to the third-generation

network. It paid 1 billion korunas immediately and promised to pay an additional 2.5 billion korunas annually. It also agreed to launch the service commercially, at least in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, by 1 January 2005. In 2003, it received a one-year extension in exchange for faster payments. In 2005 it was granted another year-long extension due to the granting of a third licence to

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

. In the event,

services launched on 1 November 2005. On 1 May 2006, the company launched HSDPA services on top of

services. In 2004 it launched CDMA/1xEV-DO broadband wireless service (data-only) at 450 MHz, leveraging its legacy NMT network. In 2012, O2 Czech Republic opened its network to virtual operators. On 1 June 2015, O2 Czech Republic has been separated into two mutually independent companies. O2 is the retail operator with the infrastructure provided by CETIN. The separation includes commercial and managerial leadership and management of both companies, including security, IT and control systems.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Mobile phone companies of the Czech Republic Telecommunications companies established in 2006 2006 establishments in the Czech Republic Telefónica PPF Group