[Article] UPC to offer 100Mbps from August

unkel

Chorus-NTL renamed UPC as it rings changes with new services

Launching the 100mb broadband initiative, which will be available this summer, were TV presenter and brand ambassador Craig Doyle and UPC chief executive Robert Dunn

By Thomas Molloy

Wednesday May 05 2010

CABLE television company Chorus-NTL has renamed itself UPC as it seeks to distance itself from an often patchy customer service in the past and to sell new services such as super-fast broadband which will allow 600,000 of the company's 800,000 customers to download films in around two minutes.

The company picked the name UPC, which its owner Liberty Global uses in several other European countries, and expanded its call centre in Limerick after taking on 50 extra employees to answer the phones in the afternoon and evenings, when customers typically ring the company to complain, order new services or cancel subscriptions.

The new company was formed through the acquisition of Chorus in 2004 and NTL in 2005 by US billionaire John Malone, who is buying up and consolidating local carriers after doing the same thing in the US two decades ago.

While Europeans are reluctant to pay much for cable television, Liberty hopes that new services such as phone lines and high-speed internet will encourage customers to spend more money.

UPC's customer base is "relatively stable, declining slightly", said Robert Dunn, the head of UPC's Irish operations.

Sales rose 10pc in the final quarter of last year, despite the fall in customer numbers, as more and more people opted for telephone and internet services, he added.

"People are looking for value and we offer value in the triple play" with television, phone and internet bundles, he said.

Broadband

The company plans to begin offering broadband with 100Mb from August. Speeds this fast will allow people living at home to download a music album in five seconds, a TV show from iTunes in 30 seconds, a film in two minutes and a high-definition film in six.

UPC has spent around €350m digging up roads to lay better fibre optic cables.

The service will be sold from late August in most places, although UPC won't complete the new cable network for around 200,000 customers in Dublin and a few other parts of the country until early next year. The company declined to say how much the service will cost.

UPC's owner is also mulling over a contract to roll out the next generation of paid-for TV in Ireland. Liberty Global, along with consortium partner RTE, was offered the contract for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) last week when talks with a separate consortium collapsed. DTT will become the transmission method for Ireland's four free-to-air channels by 2012 at the latest.

UPC's spokesperson yesterday said the DTT contract was "under consideration".

- Thomas Molloy

Irish Independent article here

Jonathan

Already a thread about it.

unkel

I saw that, Jonathan. An old thread with a lot of gossip / hearsay / speculation in it. This article is about the official "launch" by UPC of the 100Mbps service.