D�sseldorf is not only widely known as a centre of German advertising and fashion industries: in the last few years the city on the Rhine has become one of the top telecommunications centres in Germany. There are 18 internet service providers located in the capital of North-Rhine Westphalia. With two of the four big German providers of mobile frequencies, D2 Vodafone and E-Plus, D�sseldorf leads the German mobile phone market. There are also many foreign trading centres in D�sseldorf such as NTT, Ericsson, Sandvik, Nokia and GTS. Eurowings and formerly independent LTU International, are two airlines, with headquarters in the city.
Many of the internet companies in D�sseldorf have their roots in the world of advertising: there are 400 advertising agencies in D�sseldorf, among them three of the largest in Germany: BBDO Group, Publicis Group and Grey Group. A number of affiliates of foreign agencies deserve mention as well, such as Ogilvy & Mather, Dentsu, Hakuhodo, Digital District and DDB. There are also about 200 publishing houses in D�sseldorf.
In D�sseldorf there are about 170 national and international financial institutions, and about 130 insurance agencies, and one of the biggest German stock exchanges. Several other major companies have their headquarters in the city: Peek & Cloppenburg (fashion), L'Or�al Germany (Cosmetics and Beauty); Henkel AG & Co. KGaA (Branded Consumer Goods and Industrial technologies); E.ON (energy); ThyssenKrupp (metallurgy); Metro (wholesale, retail); Ergo (insurance); LTU (air transport), Esprit Holdings (fashion, headquarters in Ratingen near D�sseldorf), Cognis (chemicals, headquarter in Monheim near D�sseldorf, but production mainly in D�sseldorf).
Daimler AG builds the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and Volkswagen Crafter light commercial vehicles in D�sseldorf. Since the 1960s, there has been a strong relationship between the city and Japan. Many Japanese banks and corporations have their European
