Arcor was the former name of the
fixed phone line and Internet business of
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...
D2 GmbH, a German subsidiary of telecommunications company Vodafone. It was the second-largest provider of fixed phone lines in Germany, after
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. It was formed in 199 ...
. The name was changed on 1 August 2009 following Vodafone's acquisition of the company.
Its headquarters were in
Eschborn
Eschborn () is a town in the Main-Taunus district, Hesse, Germany. It is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and has a population of 21,488 (2018). Eschborn is home to numerous corporations due to it ...
, near
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...
. It was one of the few
telecommunication
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...
s companies in Germany to operate an
ISDN network independent of the incumbent provider, Deutsche Telekom.
In 2008, Vodafone Germany had 2.1 million
ADSL
Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is a type of digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over Copper wire, copper telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem ...
customers and 1.1 million
ISDN customers. Arcor was the first German telecommunications provider to offer a
flat rate tariff for
ISDN phone lines.
History
Mannesmann Arcor AG & Co. KG was formed in 1996 as a joint venture between
Mannesmann,
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (, ) is a Germany, German multinational Investment banking, investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange.
...
and DBKom, a subsidiary of
Deutsche Bahn, the national railway operator. After Mannesmann was acquired by
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...
, the company was renamed Arcor AG & Co. KG.
On 19 May 2008, Vodafone acquired the minority shareholdings of Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank (18.17% and 8.18%, respectively) to gain full control of Arcor.
Censorship controversy
In September 2007, various
computer magazine
Computer magazines are about computers and related subjects, such as networking and the Internet. Most computer magazines offer (or offered) advice, some offer programming tutorials, reviews of the latest technologies, and advertisements.
...
s reported that Arcor was blocking access to a small number of
pornography
Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...
sites, such as
YouPorn, for their domestic Internet users. Technology news website
Heise Online reported that a competing Internet pornography business had advised Arcor that the blocked sites were illegal under
German law
The law of Germany (), that being the modern German legal system (), is a system of civil law which is founded on the principles laid out by the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, though many of the most important laws, for example ...
, as they either had no or inadequate measures to verify the age of people accessing their content.
Sponsorship
Arcor sponsored the German football club
Hertha BSC from 2002 to 2006.
References
External links
Company's Website
Telecommunications companies of Germany
Vodafone
German brands
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