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UPC Ireland has announced plans to rebrand as Virgin Media

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  • 28-08-2015 1:08pm
    #1
    Seapoint
    Registered Users Posts: 619 ✭✭✭


    http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/upc-ireland-announces-plan-to-rebrand-as-virgin-media-1.2332113


    UPC Ireland has announced plans to rebrand as Virgin Media. The move comes after it became a part of the Virgin group last December.
    Both companies are subsidiaries of Liberty Global, which is owned by Irish-American billionaire cable TV magnate John Malone.
    All UPC operations, products and services are to move to the Virgin brand in the coming months, the firm said, adding it would serve “as a platform for further growth and enhanced delivery of great customer experiences.”
    Dana Strong is set to move on from her role as chief executive of UPC Ireland.
    UPC Ireland chief to move to Virgin Media
    TV3 Group has been sold to UPC for €80 million. An extra €7 million will be payable if TV3 hits targets in the future.UPC Ireland buys TV3 in deal worth up to €87 million
    “We are delighted to bring the Virgin Media brand to Ireland. We are proud of the way it has revolutionised the UK market, improving customer service, increasing speeds and bringing more choice to our customers. Building on the strong platform in Ireland, I know we will do great things together with Liberty Global and shake up the Irish market even further,” said Virgin group founder Richard Branson.
    Liberty Global bought Virgin Media UK in 2013 for £15 billion.
    UPC’s chief executive Magnus Ternsjo said introducing the new brand was a big investment in the group.
    “In almost every corner of the world, the Virgin brand is famous for its entrepreneurial spirit in delivering more for customers, which is exactly what we’re going to do by building even further on all our innovation and achievements to date,” he said.
    UPC said earlier this month it grew the net number of service subscriptions by 7,300 to reach 1,099,000 overall as of June 30th 2015, up by about 1 per cent on the same period a year ago, but down from 1,101,900 as of the end of first quarter.
    The company said that its acquisition of BitBuzz in December is driving growth in the business sector while its cable television product, Horizon TV, now reaches 137,000 customers, and is taken by 43 per cent of its digital cable TV base.
    Last month UPC acquired TV3 in an €80 million deal that could be worth an additional €7million if the broadcaster hits certain commercial targets in the future.
    Tagged:


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Comments

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    #2
    tonylee
    Registered Users Posts: 55 ✭✭tonylee


    Here's hoping the Virgin Media Cable box performs better than the Horizon box!


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    #3
    boardzz
    Registered Users Posts: 860 ✭✭✭boardzz


    Could mean they may offer TiVo box instead of horizon.


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    #4
    tonylee
    Registered Users Posts: 55 ✭✭tonylee


    that would be fantastic, the sooner the better . Won't be sorry to see the end of the Horizon box. Modem should also be separate to box, the combined Horizon/modem box caused endless problems, for me anyway.


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    #5
    Praetorian
    Registered Users Posts: 3,711 ✭✭✭Praetorian


    My gut feelings are this won't be a good thing for Irish consumers. UPC has a good name in Ireland. If it's purely a re-branding exercise then it seems to me that they will be wasting a lot of money. I think the Virgin name doesn't have great brand recognition in Ireland. For many the last time they will have heard the name "Virgin" will be from the ill fated Virgin megastores. A quick poll in our office here confirmed my suspicion on that.

    If it's more than just a re-branding then it could be really bad. Friends & family in the UK have told me that virgin are a nightmare to deal with. Poor customer service & bandwidth throttling during peak times have been mentioned to me. I wouldn't be surprised to see many jobs lost in the long term as well.

    Some of this is speculation on my part, but I'd be happy to hear other opinions!

    I can't imagine that they will roll out new CPE due to a name change.


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    #6
    seamus
    Registered Users Posts: 68,317 ✭✭✭✭seamus


    Yeah, I suspect this is a streamlining move. If they rebrand as Virgin Media, then VM can operate as a single entity for both Ireland and the UK rather than having a separate operations for UPC in Ireland.

    It may mean job losses, but on the other hand Virgin Media could decide to move jobs here from the UK.

    Chances are it will also mean that UPC's recent launch of an MVNO will also rebrand as Virgin Mobile.

    Not sure about the throttling. In the UK Virgin operate on a very mixed set of connections, which required a level of management to prevent some users killing the service. The same doesn't apply for the cable network here.


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    #7
    boardzz
    Registered Users Posts: 860 ✭✭✭boardzz


    This is just the Virgin Media name, the good service and investment in technology should remain as that comes from Liberty Global who are still the parent company.
    I think myself UPC has a far better name here than Virgin has, I don't understand why they done this.


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    #8
    Avada
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,411 ✭✭✭Avada


    Could this mean the end of the filipino call centre? Nightmare to deal with.


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    #9
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,469 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    This isn't really a surprise. UPC Ireland has been operating as a direct subsidiary of Virgin Media for the past 6 months and not just for tax purposes, but actually in terms of reporting structure and I believe engineering efforts.

    Also it seems Liberty Global has been dropping the UPC name thorough out Europe, changing from UPC to Ziggo, Cablecom, etc. with the UPC brand remaining largely for just the eastern European countries (Poland, Romania, etc.).

    Then there are the ongoing talks between Vodafone and Liberty Global about a possible merger or asset swap. There have been lots of different rumours about how this might work. One strong one is the idea that Virgin Media might buy up Vodafone UK's mobile network in exchange for Liberty Global selling Vodafone Germany its German cable network.

    Virgin Media UK & Ireland merging with Vodafone UK & Ireland makes a lot more sense then leaving the Irish operations dangling out on their own.

    In terms of customer hardware, this could be very good news. Virgin Media uses TiVo for it's TV set top box and from what I've read in the UK, it is considered to be extremely good. In fact most reviews say it is significantly better then Sky HD box!

    Also Virgins modem/router is considered to be one of the best supplied by any ISP in the UK. It is a dual radio, dual band, 802.11ac model with very good wifi performance. It also allows for bridging with ease in the admin interface.

    Basically customer hardware wise, everything we would like to see improved with UPC.

    On the other hand, Virgin's network doesn't seem to be as advanced as UPC's. Speeds on Virgins network seems to top out at 150Mb/s and there are reports of throttling. Also Virgins Medias pricing seems quiet a bit higher then UPC Ireland and not as good value for money.

    Hopefully UPC Ireland won't take on these practices.

    I expect we will see UPC Mobile now launch as Virgin Mobile. No point in launching as UPC Mobile and then re-branding shortly after.


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    #10
    Niemoj
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,104 ✭✭✭Niemoj


    A silly move imo, the UPC brand has a good name in Ireland.


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    #11
    davidlynchis
    Registered Users Posts: 53 ✭✭davidlynchis


    It may be too soon to answer this but do people reckon that this will mean a contract update and thus a chance for us all to break free if we so wish?


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    #12
    Avada
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,411 ✭✭✭Avada


    davidlynchis wrote: »
    It may be too soon to answer this but do people reckon that this will mean a contract update and thus a chance for us all to break free if we so wish?

    I doubt it.


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    #13
    Grab All Association
    Registered Users Posts: 3,918 ✭✭✭Grab All Association


    Don't expect it to continue when Virgin Media Ireland MVNO launches but I still use my Virgin mobile UK sim in Ireland. It costs less than out of bundle on all Irish networks (texting is a lot cheaper) and no charges to receive calls.
    bk wrote: »
    On the other hand, Virgin's network doesn't seem to be as advanced as UPC's. Speeds on Virgins network seems to top out at 150Mb/s and there are reports of throttling. Also Virgins Medias pricing seems quiet a bit higher then UPC Ireland and not as good value for money.

    Wouldn't worry about future download speeds/pricing. With SIRO/Eircom FTTH coming to most urban areas in the next few years UPC will have to invest/keep up or they'll end up like Imagine!


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    #14
    Cabaal
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Regional South East Moderators Posts: 28,462 Mod ✭✭✭✭Cabaal


    Niemoj wrote: »
    A silly move imo, the UPC brand has a good name in Ireland.

    Perhaps,
    But it'll save them a fortune in advertising, with only slight edits they can re-use alot of the UK branding. Some goes for the boxes and the like.

    Also you forget that so many people watch UK TV so they are used to seeing Virgin Media adverts over the years.


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    #15
    TheDoc
    Registered Users Posts: 23,128 ✭✭✭✭TheDoc


    Be interesting to see if its anymore then just a rebrand, and if it brings any changes to T&C's etc.

    Few UK guys I play games with say Virgin are notorious for throttling connections who download large files or hefty amounts of data a month, and can be a bit ruthless in that regard.


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    #16
    scamalert
    Registered Users Posts: 3,739 ✭✭✭scamalert


    Hopefully they will bring out new hardware,as recently asked to get router replaced as it kept dropping connection,and asked for newer model-got same one,with same issues :cool: trouble might lie on my end,but its still very crappy speed wise as there's no aerials to improve signal strength.

    But In general really happy with customer support as every time there's an issue,its either sms message to letting you know in advance or short call to get answers.

    As far as merging goes if they dont mess with the current staff and expand strong as upc did for last years,should be good then,otherwise eircom might have either huge losses and other isp,s or more customers if things don't turn out well,since upc currently has best price/service offers.


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    #17
    boardzz
    Registered Users Posts: 860 ✭✭✭boardzz


    TheDoc wrote: »
    Be interesting to see if its anymore then just a rebrand, and if it brings any changes to T&C's etc.

    Few UK guys I play games with say Virgin are notorious for throttling connections who download large files or hefty amounts of data a month, and can be a bit ruthless in that regard.

    It's still Liberty Global that owns the company. If anything Virgin Media in the UK will improve as they are the ones with the new owner.


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    #18
    BubbleBuddy
    Registered Users Posts: 128 ✭✭BubbleBuddy


    tonylee wrote: »
    that would be fantastic, the sooner the better . Won't be sorry to see the end of the Horizon box. Modem should also be separate to box, the combined Horizon/modem box caused endless problems, for me anyway.

    Sadly "He (Ternsjö) said that technology-wise Virgin Media in Ireland intends to continue running its services on Horizon set-top boxes, while in the UK TiVo will remain the set-top box platform of choice."


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    #19
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,469 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    Virgin Media (formerly UPC) is launching today, though the site won't be active until the 5th:

    https://www.siliconrepublic.com/comms/2015/10/01/virgin-media-is-ready-to-launch-its-mobile-service-in-ireland

    Some interesting points:

    Launching Virgin Mobile with two plans:
    1) €15 - 250 Minutes, 250 Texts, 1GB Data
    2) €25 - Unlimited minutes, texts, 30GB Data

    Initially 3G only, 4G next year.

    The first plan looks pointless versus Tesco mobile who offer unlimited calls and texts for the same price. The second plan could be nice for heavy data users. However on the whole, it doesn't bring much to the market.
    He added that on the cable broadband front some 750,000 homes on Virgin Media’s network in Ireland are capable of receiving 240Mbps broadband, with some homes and businesses capable of receiving 1.4Gbps.

    Interesting, some parts of the network is already capable of 1.4Gbps! Sign of things to come.
    He said that technology-wise Virgin Media in Ireland intends to continue running its services on Horizon set-top boxes, while in the UK TiVo will remain the set-top box platform of choice.

    Disappointing news, they are sticking to the Horizon set top boxes!
    Ternsjö said he couldn’t speculate on the outcome of the Irish Government’s National Broadband Plan, which goes to tender shortly, but said that Virgin Media has plans to expand its network in rural areas close to where it has existing urban infrastructure.

    A small amount of expansion, I wouldn't get too excited about that. Sounds like just infill near their existing network.
    Ternsjö concluded by revealing that Virgin Media in Ireland is testing a new Wi-Fi modem that it plans to roll out shortly

    As we already know, new modem, with much better wifi coming soon :)


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    #20
    Spear
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators, Help & Feedback Category Moderators Posts: 25,071 CMod ✭✭✭✭Spear


    bk wrote: »
    Virgin Media (formerly UPC) is launching today, though the site won't be active until the 5th:

    The new site is pretty much the same, big red banner, picture of a truck. The old functionality of My UPC is all ported over.


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    #21
    Rattlehead_ie
    Registered Users Posts: 1,882 ✭✭✭Rattlehead_ie


    Spear wrote: »
    The new site is pretty much the same, big red banner, picture of a truck. The old functionality of My UPC is all ported over.

    In fairness, I dont think thats a finished article :p


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    #22
    gordongekko
    Registered Users Posts: 5,301 ✭✭✭gordongekko


    Are we going to keep getting the bi-annual price increases?


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    #23
    ItHurtsWhenIP
    Registered Users Posts: 1,956 ✭✭✭ItHurtsWhenIP


    bk wrote: »
    ...
    Interesting, some parts of the network is already capable of 1.4Gbps! Sign of things to come.
    ...

    Could they have bonded 6 bits of coax together to achieve this?


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    #24
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,469 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    MMFITWGDV wrote: »
    Could they have bonded 6 bits of coax together to achieve this?

    Well a standard 850MHz coax cable has a combined possible bandwidth of 5Gb/s !

    Of course that isn't normally possible, as analogue and digital TV channels, etc. are also carried on the same cable, using up the usable bandwidth.

    But perhaps for some big business users they have run a dedicated coax from the local node to the business and given them a modem which bond far more channels then the usual consumer modem.

    Or might even be FTTB for some big business users.

    I'm not sure, this is the first I've heard of this. 500Mb/s is now available to regular users in their Eastern European operations.


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    #25
    PixelTrawler
    Registered Users Posts: 2,299 ✭✭✭PixelTrawler


    Im pretty sure the 1.4 Gb trial figure was floating around for a year or two and this is old news
    Edit. Yes a quick google search shows this was in 2012 https://www.facebook.com/UPCIreland/posts/104456553045652


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    #26
    innocent_thing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13 ✭innocent_thing


    Don't forget that Virgin has HUGE restrictions to some websites, can easily track what you're downloading and call you a criminal... just saying


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    #27
    ThisRegard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,834 ✭✭✭✭ThisRegard


    Most likely due to the laws in the UK rather then them as a company ?


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    #28
    innocent_thing
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13 ✭innocent_thing


    ThisRegard wrote: »
    Most likely due to the laws in the UK rather then them as a company ?

    It will be enforced here aswell, trust me. They take the responsibility as a company.


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    #29
    ThisRegard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,834 ✭✭✭✭ThisRegard


    innocent_thing wrote: »
    It will be enforced here aswell, trust me. They take the responsibility as a company.

    Why would they enforce uk laws here? I don't think we'll see much change on the operational front.


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    #30
    TheDoc
    Registered Users Posts: 23,128 ✭✭✭✭TheDoc


    That second mobile phone plan is extremely tempting.

    I actually might take that up, give Meteor a ring and see if they want to try match it or better it


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    #31
    bk
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 22,469 Mod ✭✭✭✭bk


    innocent_thing wrote: »
    Don't forget that Virgin has HUGE restrictions to some websites, can easily track what you're downloading and call you a criminal... just saying
    innocent_thing wrote: »
    It will be enforced here aswell, trust me. They take the responsibility as a company.

    No, we won't trust you because you have no idea what you are talking about!

    UPC Ireland is owned by Liberty Global International (LGI) for more then 10 years. About 2 years ago LGI bought Virgin Media UK.

    This is just a rebrand, from a corporate point of view it is more UPC taking over Virgin then the other way around.

    UPC Ireland/LGI has pretty much constantly fought similar laws in Irish courts over the last 10 years. Such laws are simply not in ISP's interest.

    There is no way UPC/Virgin Media Ireland will implement anything that isn't required by Irish Law and they are likely to continue to fight the introduction of any such laws.


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