Otelo restored by Vodafone as no-frills reseller

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: With the aim to steal market share from rivals and boost revenue, Vodafone, a UK-based telecoms company has planned to bring back its German ‘Otelo’ brand as a no-frills mobile product. Originally, a joint venture between utility companies RWE and Veba, Otelo offered fixed line services in the country.

Mannesmann Arcor acquired the company in 1999 and Vodafone acquired the Mannesmann group, as well as a 73.6% stake in fixed line operator Arcor, for EUR180 billion the following year.

According to Head of Vodafone Germany, Friedrich Joussen, Otelo hopes to compete with Netherlands-based KPN’s local unit E-Plus, which operates a number of low-priced brands including Simya and Base, as well as incumbent telco Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile Deutschland  and Spanish-owned Telefonica O2 Germany.

The new brand will be available online from February this year.