demerger from BT. British Telecommunications shareholders received 1 BT Group and 1 mm02 share for each British Telecommunications share they held. After the de-merger, most of mmO2's operations, including Digifone, were rebranded O2. mmO2 plc later became O2 plc and remained an independent company until 2005. 2005–2006: Telefónica transition On 31 October 2005 it was announced that Telefónica, S.A., the Spanish telecommunications company, had made a recommended takeover bid for O2 Ireland's parent company, O2 plc. This was then approved by shareholders and O2 was officially purchased in mid February 2006. The O2 brand is now used in several countries for Telefónica's mobile operations outside Spain and Latin America, where Telefónica fixed line and mobile services are branded as movistar. In January 2009, it was revealed that Ireland was nearly the most profitable market in the world for multinational mobile operators like O2. 2006-2013 On 23 March 2009 Vodafone and O2's parent company Telefónica announced a deal to share their existing networks in Ireland and rollout future infrastructure jointly. On 6 April 2011 it was announced that Telefónica O2 Ireland and Eircom had agreed a new network sharing partnership. 2013: Hutchison 3 Ireland merger On 24 June 2013, it was announced that Hutchison Whampoa would acquire Telefónica's Irish mobile operations for €780 million, to be merged into 3 Ireland upon completion of the deal. The deal was cleared by the EU in June 2014. On 15 July 2014, the acquisition was fully completed. On 2 March 2015 it was announced on social media that O2 Ireland and Three Ireland were merging with O2 posting the following message to their Twitter page: "Today, O2 will become Three as 1.5 million customers are welcomed into the Three family. This means the O2 logo will be replaced by a Three logo in stores, on the website, and on phones and bills. All the benefits you experienced as an O2 customer remain the same, including the same network quality and award winning customer service. You can also look forward to improved data coverage and superfast broadband." While Three Ireland posted the following message on their Twitter page: "Today we welcome 1.5 million customers to Three. This means the O2 logo will be replaced by a Three logo in stores, on the website, and on phones and bills. Please visit our FAQ section if you have any further questions." This change meant that Three Ireland