Movistar

History

The Movistar brand has been in use in Spain since the launch of GSM services in 1995. The name became effective worldwide on April 5, 2005, after Telefónica purchased the BellSouth mobile operations branch in South America. After the purchase of O2 in 2005 by Telefónica, the company announced that the «O2» brand would continue to be used in the United Kingdom and Germany, as a separate branch with its own board and management structure. Since 2011, Telefónica has sponsored a UCI ProTeam squad in cycling under the name of .

Movistar brand by country

• Argentina (formerly Telefónica Unifón and Movicom BellSouth)
• Chile (formerly Telefónica Móvil and BellSouth)
• Colombia (formerly Telefónica Telecom, Telecom, BellSouth, Cocelco, CeluMovil)
• Ecuador (formerly CelularPower, BellSouth)
• El Salvador (formerly Telefónica Móviles or Telefónica MoviStar)
• Mexico (formerly Cedetel, Bajacel, Movitel, Norcel, and Pegaso)
• Peru (formerly Telefónica Móviles and BellSouth)
• Spain (formerly Telefónica MoviStar)
• Uruguay (formerly Telefónica Unifón and Movicom BellSouth)
• Venezuela (formerly Telcel and Telcel BellSouth)

Former operations

• Guatemala (acquired by América Móvil, now operating as Claro)
• Costa Rica (acquired by Liberty Latin America, now operating as LIBERTY)
• Panama (acquired by Millicom, now operating as Tigo)
• Nicaragua (acquired by Millicom, now operating as Tigo)

Other brands by country

• Brazil (formerly Telesp and Telefônica, now under the Vivo brand)
• Germany (under the O2 brand)
• United Kingdom (under the O2 brand)

Former operations

• Czech Republic (under the O2 brand, acquired by PPF and continues operating the O2 brand under license agreement with Telefónica)
• Ireland (under the O2 brand, acquired by CK Hutchison Holdings and now operating as Three due to their merger)
• Slovakia (under the O2 brand, acquired by PPF and continues operating the O2 brand under license agreement with Telefónica)

Advertisements

The 1983 song "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves was used by Telefónica to announce the unification of all its operation brands (Telefónica MoviStar, Bellsouth, Unifon, Telefónica Moviles, Telefónica Movil, and Movicom) in Latin America and Spain under the Movistar brand after the takeover of BellSouth's Latin America division. Movistar has also used the New Radicals' hit "You Get What You Give" and "Two Princes" by Spin Doctors. Currently "Hey, Soul Sister" by Train is in advertising and other versions of the song are also used in audiovisual advertisements.

References

References

1. (26 February 2025). "Our Spanish-speaking customers know us as Movistar". telefonica.com.
2. (5 October 2020). "La CNMC publica los datos estadísticos de telecomunicaciones". cnmc.es.
3. (28 January 2020). "America Movil contests $63m Mexico fine".
4. (2004-03-09). "Telefónica Buys BellSouth Unit". The New York Times.
5. (2016-09-14). "Movistar continues as title sponsor of cycling team".
6. (January 24, 2021). "Claro "compró" a Movistar en dos países latinoamericanos".