Telefónica
Encyclopedia
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish
broadband
and telecommunication
s provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world. The company is the former public monopoly of telecommunications in Spain
.
and still holds a dominant position (over 75% in 2004). Since 1997, the Spanish government has privatised its interest in the company.
phone operator which still dominates the Czech fixed-line market. As part of this deal Telefónica also gained its 100% subsidiary Eurotel
, one of three mobile phone operators in the Czech Republic. Starting July 1, 2006, both companies were merged into one legal entity and renamed Telefónica Czech Republic.
which provided mobile phone services in the UK
, Ireland
, Germany
and Isle of Man
(Uniquely to the O2 group Manx Telecom also offered fixed-line services). Manx Telecom was sold by Telefónica O2 in June 2010.
Telefónica is also the parent of O2 in the UK
and Germany, two alternative IP carriers which provide of the merger of two ISPs, Telefónica subsidiaries, 'mediaWays' and 'HighwayOne' merged in January 2003, purchased by Telefónica in 2001 and February 2002 respectively.
Since it's acquisition of O2, Telefónica have merged their German operations (Telefónica Deutschland and O2 Germany) into a single business.
. The takeover was approved by shareholders.
In Ireland, Telefónica is the 2nd largest mobile phone operator, operating a GSM and high-speed HSPA+ wireless broadband network to residential and business customers through its "O2" brand. Telefónica Ireland also provide fixed broadband to business customers.
.
Today Telefónica owns 46,179% of Telco that owns 22,477% of Telecom Italia.
) won the tender to be the 3rd mobile phone operator in Slovakia
, under the brand O2. It began providing services on the 2 February 2007 under the name O2 Jednotka. In the beginning, it only provided a prepaid service but in the 2nd quarter of 2007, it started selling contract phones.
. It owns Telefónica de España which is the largest fixed phone and ADSL operator in Spain, Telefónica Móviles, the largest mobile phone operator in Spain (under the Movistar
brand), and Terra Networks, S.A., an Internet subsidiary.
mobile phone brand throughout Latin America. In Mexico
it occupies a distant second place and it is the largest in Chile
, Venezuela
, Brazil
and Peru
. See movistar
article for a complete country list.
, a local subsidiary.
where it provides broadband, local and long distance telephone services in the aforementioned state, which alone represents the highest GDP of South America. It also owns a majority stake in the Brazilian mobile
operator Vivo
, having agreed on July 28, 2010 to buy Portugal Telecom
's stake in the firm for €7.5 billion, after increasing its original offer by €1.8bn over three months of incident-rich negotiations. The Telefónica group has been in the country since 1996 when it acquired CRT, a fixed-line and mobile operator in the southern part of the country. The landline division is currently part of Brasil Telecom
. Telefónica is the parent of Telecomunicações de São Paulo S.A.
In 2009, after four big "blackouts" on Telefónica's broadband "Speedy", ANATEL
ordered Telefónica to stop sales of its broadband service until improvements were made on the infrastructure to provide better quality service. After the release of sales of broadband internet in August 2009, ANATEL
expects the company's service investments to keep on par with the sales. On 24 July 2010 Telefónica announced that the number of Speedy subscribers had passed the 3 million mark.
. It is unknown what will happen with their previous established subsidiary Telefónica Empresas, being most probable a merger with TELECOM. Now the company is known as Telefónica - Telecom.
It is expected to start operations on 2011 under its Movistar branding.
when it purchased part of the shares Motorola
had obtained in 1993.
in 2005, with mobile services based on CDMA technology, in 2004 as Telefónica Movistar launch national service with GSM/GPRS technology, and CDMA 1x EV-DO for data. It offers mobile solutions for the Guatemalan market and is one of only three mobile operators in Guatemala, international operator as Millicom
(TIGO) and América Móvil
(Claro
). Telefónica Móviles Guatemala (renamed in 2005) offers services on UMTS/HSPA
since June 2009, and it was the last operator to launch commercial services on this technology, with coverage in all mayor cities.
Starting January 2011, Telefónica operates in the market under the Movistar
brand.
.
(Government). Telefónica offers in Venezuela EvDO/1x and GSM GPRS networks and in December 2008 launched its UMTS network.
, Telefónica USA, Inc. provides services to US based multinational companies that have operations in Latin America and Europe. Telefónica USA also operates the Key Center, a category 5 data center in Miami, from where the company supports Business Continuity and IT services for Enterprise customers in South Florida.
agreed a $1Bn cross-holding with Telefonica. In January 2011, the two partners agreed a further $500M tie-up in each other, which following completion in late 2011, Telefonica will hold a 9.7% stake in China Unicom, while China Unicom will own 1.4% of the Spanish firm.
Customers: Telefónica lists, among other, the following as existing customers: DPDHL, Inditex, Scottish Power, BBVA, BMW, Endesa and FCC.
Full Network Operations: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela
Commercial and Operational offices with Network Infrastructure: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and USA
Network Points of Presence: Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Slovenia
Strategic and Industry alliances: China, Italy and Portugal
In addition to this, the company held 75% of Dutch TV firm Endemol
in shares, although these have been sold in May 2007 to Edam Acquisition, jointly and equally owned by Cyrte Fund II B.V.; Mediacinco Cartera S.L., which is a newly incorporated entity owned by Mediaset
S.p.A. and its quoted subsidiary Gestevision Telecinco S.A.
; and GS Capital Partners.
until Fernando Alonso
's departure to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 Team and Formula 1 Gran Premio De España Telefónica. Through its acquisition of O2, Telefónica also indirectly sponsored the BMW Sauber. F1 Racing
estimates these sponsorships amount to $18 million, $15 million and $23 million respectively. In Ireland, O2 are the main sponsors of the Irish Rugby Union Team.
They also sponsored the Ford Focus WRC
during the 2000 season. The sponsorship said Telefónica Movistar on it and the stickers were on the front bumper, the rear 3-quarters and the rear spoiler.
Teléfonica also sponsors the Spanish football teams Real Zaragoza
and Valencia CF
.
Teléfonica was also a major sponsor of one of Suzuki's racing teams in MotoGP in the early 2000s. They have, however, ceased sponsoring a motorcycle racing team in MotoGP.
From 2011, they are to sponsor the cycling team previously known as , under the name Team Movistar.
Telefónica has received several fines due to convictions over unfair competition
, abuse of its position as dominant provider, and antitrust violations through the Commission of Telecommunications, European Commission, and Spanish tribunals. These fines include: 900,000 euro fine, Spanish tribunals, 18 million euro fine, Spanish Telecommunication Market commission, 57 million in 2004 for unfair competition, and 151.9 million euro by European Commission for abusing of its dominant position. Now Telefónica has in court two more fines, with a value of 793 million euros..
On 5 July 2007, the European Commission
ordered Telefónica to pay a record antitrust fine of almost €152 million for activities in the Spanish broadband market which, according to European Union competition commissioner Neelie Kroes
, "harmed Spanish consumer
s, Spanish business
es and the Spanish economy
as a whole, and by extension Europe's economy".
Several consumer groups in Spain have reported unnecessary delays in cancelling Telefónica's ADSL service. These consumer groups also claim that services continue to be billed after being cancelled and that service cancellation requests are ignored.
This has led Spanish people to organize themselves in consumer groups such as the "Asociación de Internautas" and user communities like "Bandaancha" in order to defend themselves from Telefónica's abuses, and to give support and help to each other in their various complaints about Telefónica's unfair practices.
The practices are claimed to include the complex process involved in cancelling lines.
These line cancellation procedures are justified by Telefónica as a way of "defending customers against hoaxes". Furthermore, in areas where ADSL lines are scarce, there are also reports of customers who claim to have had their service cancelled or inexplicably transferred to another customer although they have paid their bills.
This practice is considered by some to be used by Telefónica in certain areas of Spain where there are few broadband connections.
expressed in a meeting at Bilbao
, Spain
that his company intends to charge Google
and other search engines for the use of their network. Alierta complained that such search engines were benefiting from the platform without contributing to the company's expenses and that such a trend will change in the near future. Additionally he said that Telefónica will seek to push its own content.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
broadband
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
and telecommunication
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world. The company is the former public monopoly of telecommunications in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
History
Created in 1924, as Compañía Telefónica Nacional de España (CTNE), until the liberalisation of the telecom market in 1997, Telefónica was the only telephone operator in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and still holds a dominant position (over 75% in 2004). Since 1997, the Spanish government has privatised its interest in the company.
Current operations
Czech Republic
In 2005, Telefónica bought Český Telecom (Czech Telecom), the former state-owned CzechCzech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
phone operator which still dominates the Czech fixed-line market. As part of this deal Telefónica also gained its 100% subsidiary Eurotel
Eurotel
Eurotel is the name of a former mobile network, acquired and transformed into a branch of T-Mobile in Slovakia and O2 in the Czech republic....
, one of three mobile phone operators in the Czech Republic. Starting July 1, 2006, both companies were merged into one legal entity and renamed Telefónica Czech Republic.
Germany and Isle of Man
On 26 January 2006 Telefónica completed its £17.7 billion (€ 25.7 billion) acquisition of the UK-based operator O2O2 plc
Telefónica Europe plc is a European broadband and telecommunications company that trades as O2 . The company originated as a collection of worldwide telecommunications companies, known in the later half of the 1990s as BT Wireless, and a global mobile data business known then as Genie Internet,...
which provided mobile phone services in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Isle of Man
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
(Uniquely to the O2 group Manx Telecom also offered fixed-line services). Manx Telecom was sold by Telefónica O2 in June 2010.
Telefónica is also the parent of O2 in the UK
O2 (United Kingdom)
Telefónica UK Limited is a telecommunications, internet and financial services provider in the United Kingdom owned by Telefónica, forming part of its Telefónica Europe division...
and Germany, two alternative IP carriers which provide of the merger of two ISPs, Telefónica subsidiaries, 'mediaWays' and 'HighwayOne' merged in January 2003, purchased by Telefónica in 2001 and February 2002 respectively.
Since it's acquisition of O2, Telefónica have merged their German operations (Telefónica Deutschland and O2 Germany) into a single business.
Ireland
On , it was announced that Telefónica had began proceedings to takeover O2 Ireland's parent company, O2 plcO2 plc
Telefónica Europe plc is a European broadband and telecommunications company that trades as O2 . The company originated as a collection of worldwide telecommunications companies, known in the later half of the 1990s as BT Wireless, and a global mobile data business known then as Genie Internet,...
. The takeover was approved by shareholders.
In Ireland, Telefónica is the 2nd largest mobile phone operator, operating a GSM and high-speed HSPA+ wireless broadband network to residential and business customers through its "O2" brand. Telefónica Ireland also provide fixed broadband to business customers.
Italy
In April 2007, Telefónica enters in the newco Telco, which holds the 23% of Telecom ItaliaTelecom Italia
Telecom Italia is the largest Italian telecommunications company, also active in the media and manufacturing industries. Now a private concern listed on the Borsa Italiana, it was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most important of which was...
.
Today Telefónica owns 46,179% of Telco that owns 22,477% of Telecom Italia.
Slovakia
In summer of 2006, Telefónica (Telefónica O2 SlovakiaTelefónica O2 Slovakia
Telefónica Slovakia is a provider of mobile service O2 in Slovakia. Telefónica started in Slovakia with commercial services on 2 February 2007 with about 600.000 preregistered users, and ~400,000 Slovaks actively using the O2 service. The operator has 781,000 active SIM cards to date 30...
) won the tender to be the 3rd mobile phone operator in Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
, under the brand O2. It began providing services on the 2 February 2007 under the name O2 Jednotka. In the beginning, it only provided a prepaid service but in the 2nd quarter of 2007, it started selling contract phones.
Spain
Telefónica is the second largest corporation in Spain, behind Grupo SantanderGrupo Santander
The Santander Group is a banking group centered on Banco Santander, S.A., the largest bank in the Eurozone and one of the largest banks in the world in terms of market capitalisation. According to Forbes Magazine Global 2000, it is the 13th largest public company in the world...
. It owns Telefónica de España which is the largest fixed phone and ADSL operator in Spain, Telefónica Móviles, the largest mobile phone operator in Spain (under the Movistar
Movistar
Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
brand), and Terra Networks, S.A., an Internet subsidiary.
United Kingdom
On , O2 agreed to be taken over by Telefónica, with a cash offer of £17.7 billion, or £2 per share. According to the merger announcement, O2 retained its name and continued to be based in the United Kingdom, keeping both the brand and the management team. The merger became unconditional on . O2 is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Telefónica.Americas
Telefónica operates the MovistarMovistar
Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
mobile phone brand throughout Latin America. In Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
it occupies a distant second place and it is the largest in Chile
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. See movistar
Movistar
Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
article for a complete country list.
Argentina
Telefónica owns Telefónica de Argentina which is the largest fixed-line operator in the country. It provides broadband, local and long distance telephone services in southern part of the country as well as the Greater Buenos Aires area. The Telefónica Group has been in the country since 1990. The mobile business is run by Telefónica Móviles through MovistarMovistar
Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
, a local subsidiary.
Brazil
Telefónica's largest fixed-line operation in Latin America is in São PauloSão Paulo (state)
São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...
where it provides broadband, local and long distance telephone services in the aforementioned state, which alone represents the highest GDP of South America. It also owns a majority stake in the Brazilian mobile
Mobile telephony
Mobile telephony is the provision of telephone services to phones which may move around freely rather than stay fixed in one location. Mobile phones connect to a terrestrial cellular network of base stations , whereas satellite phones connect to orbiting satellites...
operator Vivo
Vivo (mobile phone network)
Vivo is the largest mobile phone service provider in Brazil and in South America with over 60 million users. It originated from the merger of several Brazilian mobile phone operations under a joint-venture owned equally by Portugal Telecom and Spain's Telefónica; however, Telefónica is now its...
, having agreed on July 28, 2010 to buy Portugal Telecom
Portugal Telecom
Portugal Telecom is the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal. Although it operates mainly in Portugal and Brazil, it has also a significant presence in Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Timor-Leste, Angola, Kenya, the People's Republic of China, and São Tomé and...
's stake in the firm for €7.5 billion, after increasing its original offer by €1.8bn over three months of incident-rich negotiations. The Telefónica group has been in the country since 1996 when it acquired CRT, a fixed-line and mobile operator in the southern part of the country. The landline division is currently part of Brasil Telecom
Brasil Telecom
Brasil Telecom S.A. is a major Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in the Brazilian capital Brasilia. The company is one of three land lines, one long distance and eight mobile telephone companies in Brazil that emerged from the break-up of Telebrás...
. Telefónica is the parent of Telecomunicações de São Paulo S.A.
Telesp
Telefônica Brasil is a brazilian telecommunications company subsidiary of Spanish Telefónica. The company was originally formed as part of Telebrás, the state-owned telecom monopoly at the time. In 1998, Telebrás was demerged and privatized, with Telefónica taking Telesp. From that time, Telesp...
In 2009, after four big "blackouts" on Telefónica's broadband "Speedy", ANATEL
Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications
The Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications is a special authority created by the general telecommunications law in 1997 and regulated by the decree 2338, 07/10/1997...
ordered Telefónica to stop sales of its broadband service until improvements were made on the infrastructure to provide better quality service. After the release of sales of broadband internet in August 2009, ANATEL
Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications
The Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications is a special authority created by the general telecommunications law in 1997 and regulated by the decree 2338, 07/10/1997...
expects the company's service investments to keep on par with the sales. On 24 July 2010 Telefónica announced that the number of Speedy subscribers had passed the 3 million mark.
Chile
Telefónica owns Telefónica Chile, formerly CTC (Compañía de Teléfonos de Chile) which is the biggest fixed-line operator and internet service provider in the country. The Telefónica Group has been in the country since 1989. The mobile business is run by Telefónica Móviles through a local subsidiary. On October 25 of 2009, Telefónica Chile changed its name to Movistar, including cellphone, landline, satellite TV and internetColombia
On April 18, 2006, Telefónica's president Cesar Alierta signed an agreement with the Colombian government to buy 50% and one share of the state-owned communications company, Colombia Telecomunicaciones (TELECOM). With this sale, Telefónica became the largest Colombian land-line operator, and also gained an important presence in the local, long-distance and broadband market. The mobile business is run by Telefónica Móviles through the brand movistarMovistar
Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
. It is unknown what will happen with their previous established subsidiary Telefónica Empresas, being most probable a merger with TELECOM. Now the company is known as Telefónica - Telecom.
Costa Rica
Telefonica signed a contract for 15 years (extendable for 10 additional years) on 12 May, 2011 with the government of Costa Rica.It is expected to start operations on 2011 under its Movistar branding.
Dominican Republic
In 2000, Telefónica acquired a 26.5% stake in TRICOMTricom
In 2008, Tricom was the first Australian broking house in many years to fail to settle its trades with the ASX. Controversially, it held ownership of shares that its borrowers had used margin loans to purchase until the loan was repaid. Tricom would then lend those shares to other traders so that...
when it purchased part of the shares Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
had obtained in 1993.
Ecuador
After acquiring 100% of OTECEL S.A. (Bellsouth), Telefónica Móviles Ecuador started its operations on October 14, 2004 as Movistar. It offers mobile solutions for the Ecuadorian market and is one of only three mobile operators in Ecuador. Telefónica in Ecuador has started offering 3G service from the second half of 2009.Guatemala
After acquiring 100% of Paysandú S.A., Telefónica Guatemala Centro América started its operations in 1998 as Telefónica Movistar and just Telefónica for landlines. In 2004, acquired 100% of BellSouth Guatemala, relaunching mobile operations as movistarMovistar
Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
in 2005, with mobile services based on CDMA technology, in 2004 as Telefónica Movistar launch national service with GSM/GPRS technology, and CDMA 1x EV-DO for data. It offers mobile solutions for the Guatemalan market and is one of only three mobile operators in Guatemala, international operator as Millicom
Millicom
Millicom International Cellular, also known as Tigo, is a mobile phone network provider in America and Africa. Based in Luxembourg, the company provides mobile services in 14 countries. With operations across Central America, South America, South-east Asia, and Africa, using GSM, CDMA and TDMA on...
(TIGO) and América Móvil
América Móvil
América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunication company headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the fourth largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers, one of the largest corporations in Latin America, and the world. America Movil is a Fortune 500 company...
(Claro
Claro (mobile phone network)
Claro is the largest mobile phone network in the Americas. It is part of the Mexican telecom group América Móvil which is one of the four largest mobile phone network operators in the world, with more than 200 million customers...
). Telefónica Móviles Guatemala (renamed in 2005) offers services on UMTS/HSPA
High Speed Packet Access
High Speed Packet Access is an amalgamation of two mobile telephony protocols, High Speed Downlink Packet Access and High Speed Uplink Packet Access , that extends and improves the performance of existing WCDMA protocols...
since June 2009, and it was the last operator to launch commercial services on this technology, with coverage in all mayor cities.
Panama
Telefonica started its operations in Panama in 2004 as Telefonica acquired 100% of Bellsouth Panama. Since then it has operated using the name Movistar for mobile services. It migrated from CDMA technology used by Bellsouth to GSM 850. It also offers 3G using UMTS 850 and UMTS 1900. The company also offers land lines.Peru
The Telefónica Group has been in the country since 1994 and owns the largest fixed-line operator in the country. The local subsidiary offers local, long distance and broadband services nationwide. The mobile business is run by Telefónica Móviles through a local subsidiary. The mobile telephone business goes by the name Movistar and competes with major provider Claro. Their main offices are located in Santa Beatriz on Av. Arequipa 1155.Starting January 2011, Telefónica operates in the market under the Movistar
Movistar
Movistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
brand.
Puerto Rico
Telefónica in Puerto Rico has presence through Telefónica Empresas, Telefónica Larga Distancia - TLD, Telefónica International Wholesale Services - TIWS (formerly Emergia) and Atento. Telefónica Moviles, through its Movistar brand, had presence in Puerto Rico until mid 2007 that they sold the Puerto Rico network to a private equity group who renamed it Open MobileOpen Mobile
PRWireless is a mobile network operator offering mobile phone services exclusively in Puerto Rico. The company was established on June 12, 2007 as a relaunch of NewComm Wireless Services...
.
Venezuela
Telefónica offers EvDO-based Internet access at low rates from 2004 and owns movistar, the first and larger mobile operator of Venezuela, being in second place movilnet of CANTVCANTV
CANTV is one of the first telephone service enterprises in Venezuela, founded in 1930. The company was re-nationalized in 2007.As of May 9, 2008, Cantv’s customer base numbered 10.1 million mobile subscribers, 5.2 million fixed telephony subscribers and 1,000,000 broadband subscribers.- Origins...
(Government). Telefónica offers in Venezuela EvDO/1x and GSM GPRS networks and in December 2008 launched its UMTS network.
United States
Based in Miami, FloridaMiami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, Telefónica USA, Inc. provides services to US based multinational companies that have operations in Latin America and Europe. Telefónica USA also operates the Key Center, a category 5 data center in Miami, from where the company supports Business Continuity and IT services for Enterprise customers in South Florida.
China
In 2009, China UnicomChina Unicom
China Unicom or China United Netcom Ltd , is a Chinese state-owned telecommunications operator in the People's Republic of China.-History:...
agreed a $1Bn cross-holding with Telefonica. In January 2011, the two partners agreed a further $500M tie-up in each other, which following completion in late 2011, Telefonica will hold a 9.7% stake in China Unicom, while China Unicom will own 1.4% of the Spanish firm.
Telefónica Multinational Solutions
The firm provides fixed and mobile telecommunications and IT services to large multinational corporations through its Telefónica Multinational Solutions unit.Customers: Telefónica lists, among other, the following as existing customers: DPDHL, Inditex, Scottish Power, BBVA, BMW, Endesa and FCC.
Full Network Operations: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela
Commercial and Operational offices with Network Infrastructure: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and USA
Network Points of Presence: Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Slovenia
Strategic and Industry alliances: China, Italy and Portugal
Financial data
| Year | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales Sales A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation. It is an act of completion of a commercial activity.... |
31 052 | 28 411 | 28 399 | 30 322 | 37 882 | 52 901 | 56 441 | 57 946 |
| OIBDA OIBDA OIBDA is an acronym meaning operating income before depreciation and amortization. It refers to an income calculation made by adding depreciation and amortization to operating income.... |
12 804 | 11 724 | 12 600 | 13 215 | 15 276 | 19 126 | 22 824 | 22 919 |
| Net Results | 2 106 | -5 577 | 2 203 | 2 877 | 4 446 | 6 233 | 8 906 | 7 592 |
| Net Debt | 28 941 | 22 533 | 19 235 | 20 982 | 33 574 | 52 145 |
Ownership
Telefónica is a publicly owned company. It is estimated that a large part of its stock is owned by capital investment funds. Major stockholders include:- Banco Bilbao Vizcaya ArgentariaBanco Bilbao Vizcaya ArgentariaBanco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. is a multinational Spanish banking group. It was formed in 1999 from the merger of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Argentaria, both of which in turn had previously amalgamated three important banks in Spain, namely Banco de Bilbao, Banco de Vizcaya, Banco Exterior de...
, S.A. (BBVA): 14.961% - Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de BarcelonaLa CaixaLa Caixa , formally Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona , is currently Europe’s leading savings bank and Spain's third largest financial institution, with a network of over 5,500 branches, more than 8,100 ATMs, a workforce in excess of 27,000 and more than 10.7 million...
("La CaixaLa CaixaLa Caixa , formally Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona , is currently Europe’s leading savings bank and Spain's third largest financial institution, with a network of over 5,500 branches, more than 8,100 ATMs, a workforce in excess of 27,000 and more than 10.7 million...
"): 5.442% - Criteria Caixacorp 5.019%
In addition to this, the company held 75% of Dutch TV firm Endemol
Endemol
Endemol is an international television production and distribution company based in the Netherlands, with subsidiaries and joint ventures in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Mexico, Spain, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Poland,...
in shares, although these have been sold in May 2007 to Edam Acquisition, jointly and equally owned by Cyrte Fund II B.V.; Mediacinco Cartera S.L., which is a newly incorporated entity owned by Mediaset
Mediaset
Mediaset S.p.A., known as Gruppo Mediaset in Italian, is an Italian-based media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country...
S.p.A. and its quoted subsidiary Gestevision Telecinco S.A.
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish commercial television channel operated by Mediaset España. Launched in 1990 as Tele 5, it was the fifth of the national terrestrial television channels. In 1997, Tele 5 was rebranded as Telecinco, dropping the flower logo seen in other Mediaset channel...
; and GS Capital Partners.
Sponsorship
Telefónica was a major sponsor of the Renault F1 TeamRenault F1
Lotus Renault GP, formerly the Renault F1 Team, is a British Formula One racing team. The Oxfordshire-based team can trace its roots back through the Benetton team of the late 1980s and 1990s to the Toleman team of the early 1980s. Renault had also competed in various forms since , before taking...
until Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso
Fernando Alonso Díaz is a Spanish Formula One racing driver and a two-time World Champion, who is currently racing for Ferrari....
's departure to Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 Team and Formula 1 Gran Premio De España Telefónica. Through its acquisition of O2, Telefónica also indirectly sponsored the BMW Sauber. F1 Racing
F1 Racing
F1 Racing is a monthly magazine focused on Formula One racing which launched in March, 1996.The previous Editor, Matt Bishop, also used to write a fortnightly column for the website of the weekly magazine Autosport...
estimates these sponsorships amount to $18 million, $15 million and $23 million respectively. In Ireland, O2 are the main sponsors of the Irish Rugby Union Team.
They also sponsored the Ford Focus WRC
Ford Focus WRC
The Ford Focus RS WRC is a car built for the Ford World Rally Team by Ford and M-Sport and based on the Ford Focus Climate 2-litre production hatchback, developed to compete in the World Rally Championship. The RS stands for Rallye Sport and the WRC for World Rally Car, the car's FIA specification...
during the 2000 season. The sponsorship said Telefónica Movistar on it and the stickers were on the front bumper, the rear 3-quarters and the rear spoiler.
Teléfonica also sponsors the Spanish football teams Real Zaragoza
Real Zaragoza
Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. is a Spanish association football team from Zaragoza in Spain. Founded on 18 March 1932, Real Zaragoza have spent the majority of their 78 year history in the Spanish top-flight. Real Zaragoza are Spain's 9th highest ranked team in overall league points...
and Valencia CF
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in Valencia, Spain. They play in La Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish Football and European Football. Valencia have won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey trophies, two Fairs Cups which was the...
.
Teléfonica was also a major sponsor of one of Suzuki's racing teams in MotoGP in the early 2000s. They have, however, ceased sponsoring a motorcycle racing team in MotoGP.
From 2011, they are to sponsor the cycling team previously known as , under the name Team Movistar.
Europe
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
, abuse of its position as dominant provider, and antitrust violations through the Commission of Telecommunications, European Commission, and Spanish tribunals. These fines include: 900,000 euro fine, Spanish tribunals, 18 million euro fine, Spanish Telecommunication Market commission, 57 million in 2004 for unfair competition, and 151.9 million euro by European Commission for abusing of its dominant position. Now Telefónica has in court two more fines, with a value of 793 million euros..
On 5 July 2007, the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
ordered Telefónica to pay a record antitrust fine of almost €152 million for activities in the Spanish broadband market which, according to European Union competition commissioner Neelie Kroes
Neelie Kroes
Neelie Kroes is a Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . She served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 3 August 1971 until 28 December 1977 when she became State Secretary for Transport, Public Works and Water Management from 28 December 1977 until 11...
, "harmed Spanish consumer
Consumer
Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...
s, Spanish business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
es and the Spanish economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
as a whole, and by extension Europe's economy".
Several consumer groups in Spain have reported unnecessary delays in cancelling Telefónica's ADSL service. These consumer groups also claim that services continue to be billed after being cancelled and that service cancellation requests are ignored.
This has led Spanish people to organize themselves in consumer groups such as the "Asociación de Internautas" and user communities like "Bandaancha" in order to defend themselves from Telefónica's abuses, and to give support and help to each other in their various complaints about Telefónica's unfair practices.
The practices are claimed to include the complex process involved in cancelling lines.
These line cancellation procedures are justified by Telefónica as a way of "defending customers against hoaxes". Furthermore, in areas where ADSL lines are scarce, there are also reports of customers who claim to have had their service cancelled or inexplicably transferred to another customer although they have paid their bills.
This practice is considered by some to be used by Telefónica in certain areas of Spain where there are few broadband connections.
Positions on Network neutrality
In February 2010, Telefónica CEO Cesar AliertaCésar Alierta
César Alierta Izuel has been the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Telefónica S.A. since July 26, 2000 where he guided the company through a significant Latin American expansion. Mr. Alierta earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Law at the Universidad de Zaragoza in 1967...
expressed in a meeting at Bilbao
Bilbao
Bilbao ) is a Spanish municipality, capital of the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. With a population of 353,187 , it is the largest city of its autonomous community and the tenth largest in Spain...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
that his company intends to charge Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and other search engines for the use of their network. Alierta complained that such search engines were benefiting from the platform without contributing to the company's expenses and that such a trend will change in the near future. Additionally he said that Telefónica will seek to push its own content.
Further reading
- Telecomunicações de São Paulo
- Telefónica de España
- Telefónica Europe
- Telefónica MóvilesMovistarMovistar is a major Spanish mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. It is the largest carrier in Spain with 22 million customers and 41.58% of market share. Its principal competitor in Latin America is America Movil...
- Terra Networks
- Tesco MobileTesco MobileTesco Mobile is a mobile virtual network operator in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Slovakia. It is operated by Tesco, using the O2 network as its carrier.-United Kingdom:...
- Vivo S.A.