THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA
3 September 2001, Peter Erskine announced to the City the new name and brand for BT wireless. The renaming and rebranding are the most visible parts so far of our planned demerger from BT. The demerger gives us all a great opportunity to move forward with mobility, not just with voice, WAP and GPRS, but also with 3G. From demerger, BT wireless, of which BT Cellnet is such an important part, will be an independent company with its own vision of the future. Our new name marks that independence.
BT wireless is changing its name with immediate effect to mmO2 and following the demerger from BT planned for later this year, the stock will be listed under this new name. The new brand for the business will be O2 and the operating units across Europe, including BT Cellnet, will begin to use this new brand following the demerger.
The new brand, O2, embodies the company's ambition to provide essential, lifestyle-enabling mobile services to its customers. O2 is:
- Modern and universal
- Recognisable across all markets and is very memorable
- Research shows it has credibility across both business and consumer market segments
O2 will build on our key strengths and give us a single brand across Western Europe, allowing us to develop new values and strengths, complementing existing ones. This is more than a name change; it is an expression of what we want to be known for in the marketplace, supporting our vision:
"To be the essential wireless brand by enriching people's lives, whatever they're doing, wherever they are."
From Spring 2002, BT Cellnet will adopt fully the O2 brand and values.
