Movistar

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The correct title of this article is movistar. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.

movistar logo since April 2005

movistar is a major mobile phone operator owned by Telefónica Móviles. It operates in Spain and in many Latin American countries. Many movistar networks were acquired from BellSouth.

The movistar name has been in use in Spain since the launch of GSM services in 1995. After purchasing Bellsouth mobile operations branch in South America, the name became effective worldwide on April 5, 2005.

After the purchase of O₂ in 2005, the company has announced that the O₂ brand will continue to be used in the UK, Germany and the Republic of Ireland, as a separate branch with its own managing. Due to the fact that Eurotel in the Czech Republic is to be rebranded as O₂, as opposed to movistar, it is possible Telefónica will expand the use of the O₂ brand.

1 Countries where Telefónica Móviles operates wireless networks under the movistar brand
2 Countries where Telefónica Móviles has networks under other brands
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Countries where Telefónica Móviles operates wireless networks under the movistar brand

Argentina (formerly Telefónica Unifón and Movicom BellSouth)
Chile (formerly Telefónica Móvil and BellSouth)
Colombia (formerly BellSouth)
Ecuador (formerly BellSouth)
El Salvador (Formerly Telefónica Móviles or Telefonica MoviStar)
Guatemala (formerly Telefónica MoviStar and BellSouth)
Mexico (formerly Telefónica Móviles México)
Nicaragua (formerly Telefónica MoviStar)
Panama (formerly BellSouth)
Peru (formerly Telefónica Móviles and BellSouth)
Puerto Rico Joint venture. MoviStar (with capital "M" and a capital "S" in the middle)
Spain (formerly Telefónica MoviStar)
Uruguay (formerly Movicom)
Venezuela (formerly Telcel-Bellsouth)

[edit] Countries where Telefónica Móviles has networks under other brands

Brazil (formerly under Movistar in some places, now under the Vivo brand through a joint venture with Portugal Telecom)
Morocco (under Meditel Telecom brand) brand through a joint venture with Portugal Telecom, BMCE Bank and others
Czech Republic (under the O₂ brand)
Slovak Republic (under the O₂ brand)
Germany (under the O₂ brand)
Republic of Ireland (under the O₂ brand)
United Kingdom (under the O₂ brand)

[edit] Trivia

The 1983 song "Walking on Sunshine" by the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 winners, New Wavers Katrina and the Waves, has been used by Telefónica to announce the unification of all its operations brands(Telefonica MoviStar, Bellsouth, Unifon, Telefonica Moviles, Telefonica Movil, Movicom) in Latinamerica and Spain under movistar brand. It happened after the takeover of BellSouth's Latin America division.1

	Mobile phone companies of Spain
movistar \| Orange \| Vodafone \| Yoigo
Mobile Virtual Network Operators: Euskaltel \| Carrefour Móvil \| Happy Móvil \| Telecor (El Corte Inglés)