# Debitel > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Debitel > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Debitel.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debitel > Source revision: 1266547203 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|German telecommunications company}} 220px|right [[File:Stuttgart-Vaihingen STEP 6.jpg|thumb|right|debitel headquarters in the [Vaihingen](/source/Stuttgart-Vaihingen) district of [Stuttgart](/source/Stuttgart)]] '''Debitel AG''' was one of the largest [mobile telephone](/source/mobile_telephone) services providers in [Europe](/source/Europe), offering a wide range of telecommunication products – mobile and land-line telephony as well internet services. At its peak, the business commanded a 47% market share of the mobile service provider market in Germany (its largest market) with 12.4% of the overall mobile telephone market {{As of|2004|lc=on}}. The company boasted over 10.2 million customers of which 8.3 million were resident in Germany. The company was founded in 1991 by [Debis](/source/Debis), a subsidiary of German car maker [Daimler Benz](/source/Daimler_Benz) before being sold in 2004 to a German holding company of Swiss telecommunications giant [Swisscom](/source/Swisscom). == Takeovers and mergers == In June 2004, [Permira](/source/Permira), an international [private equity](/source/private_equity) firm, acquired [Swisscom](/source/Swisscom)'s 95% stake in Debitel. In 2006 it was announced that Debitel would merge with _dug telecom AG, a German telecommunications company with 430 outlets of its own which had been founded in 1993 as a mobile telephone direct sales company called ‘Dittrich und Grella’.[http://www.dugaktion.de/index.php?id=71 dugaktion.de] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228095947/http://www.dugaktion.de/index.php?id=71 |date=2008-12-28 }}, DUG history, Germany website quoted 27.04.2008 Including the 1100 employees of _dug, by March 2008 the merged company employed 4000 people. In October 2008 the company owned 500 outlets in Germany, marketing what are known in Germany as 'tariff-based' products under the Debitel brand on behalf of network providers such as [T-Mobile](/source/T-Mobile_International_AG), [E-Plus](/source/E-Plus) and [O2](/source/Telef%C3%B3nica_Europe). debitel also sold land-line services at this time for [Deutsche Telekom](/source/Deutsche_Telekom)'s T-Home brand, [Arcor](/source/Arcor_(telecommunications)), [O2](/source/Telef%C3%B3nica_Europe) DSL, Alice (a German brand owned by [Telecom Italia](/source/Telecom_Italia)) and [Freenet](/source/Freenet). In July 2007 Debitel was granted permission by the [EU Commission](/source/EU_Commission) to take over [Elmshorn](/source/Elmshorn)-based telecommunications company [Talkline](/source/Talkline).[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20121023142810/http://ec.europa.eu/comm/competition/mergers/cases/decisions/m4764_20070720_20310_en.pdf ec.europa.eu], Danish company [TDC A/S](/source/TDC_A%2FS) sells Talkline 560 mill. euros Debitel subsequently consolidated the administration of the merged companies and downsized human resources leading to the loss of 700 jobs at Talkline and the announcement that Talkline operations would close entirely by 2010.[http://www.en-online.de/source/code/visitor_en/news2.asp?Objekt=5575 German news item from Elmshorn, home town of Talkline]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} In April 2008, [Freenet AG](/source/Freenet_AG) announced it would purchase Debitel from [Permira](/source/Permira) including all liabilities for approx. 1.6 billion euros.[http://www.freenet.ag/presse/7425.htm German press release dated 27.04.2008] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302122558/http://www.freenet.ag/presse/7425.htm |date=2009-03-02 }} ==Sponsorship== Between 1999 and 2005, Debitel was the main kit sponsor of German football club [VfB Stuttgart](/source/VfB_Stuttgart). == References == {{reflist}} Category:Mobile phone companies of Germany Category:Companies based in Stuttgart Category:Telecommunications companies established in 1991 Category:German companies established in 1991 Category:2004 mergers and acquisitions Category:2008 mergers and acquisitions Category:Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2008 Category:2008 disestablishments in Germany Category:Permira companies --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Debitel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debitel) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debitel?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.