Arcor becomes Vodafone

Vodafone Germany has dropped the Arcor branding of its German fixed network subsidiary from 1 August 2009 to reflect the integration of the two companies. Existing Arcor DSL and fixed telephony customers will not be affected by the name change. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, the British group bought the 26.4% interest in Arcor it did not already own from Deutsche Bahn and Deutsche Bank for a total of EUR474 million (USD737 million) in May 2008. Since 1 August 2008 the duo merged their executive management structures, with the hope the move will produce an integrated communications service provider offering products from a portfolio that includes mobile, fixed, data and internet services.