Part of the Spanish telecommunication giant Telefónica, O2 offers fast home broadband, home phone packages, mobile broadband and mobile phone packages to customers throughout the UK. O2 is part of the Telefónica Europe group. It was formed in 2001 following the demerger of BT from its former mobile phone business, BT Wireless. After five years as an independent company, it was bought by the Spanish giant Telefónica for £17.7 billion in the biggest all-cash takeover in the history of the telecommunications industry. O2 currently has over 43 million customers in Europe, including 18.4 million in the UK. In 2007, O2 entered the home broadband market with the purchase of BE. They now offer home broadband, home phone and mobile services to customers throughout the UK.