UPC Ireland claims 121pc broadband growth


1 Mar 2007

UPC Ireland, the former NTL cable TV company, said today that it has experienced a 121pc year-on-year broadband customer growth, with broadband subscribers jumping from 24,200 last year to 55,300 by the end of 2006.

According to the company’s overall performance for 2006, by the end of the year over 307,700 Irish homes are serviceable for broadband – leaving an approximate market of 252,400 potential broadband subscribers yet to sign up.

Overall, UPC Ireland reaches 858,300 Irish homes with services, out of which 599,300 are actual customers.

Out of the 599,300 customers, approximately 595,200 are actual digital cable TV subscribers.

“These results show a business that continues to significantly improve its customer growth particularly in the broadband space,” said Robert Dunn, UPC Ireland’s general manager.

“We added on average over 500 broadband customers per week during 2006 which enabled us to become one of the largest residential broadband providers in Ireland. In addition, we managed to grow our TV customer numbers by 3pc during the year despite operating in a very competitive TV marketplace.

Dunn said that last year UPC began its phased rollout of triple-play bundled services.

“During 2007 we will continue our network investment programme to deliver a multi-play of services such as digital telephony, digital broadband and digital television across our national footprint in Ireland,” he said.

A spokesperson for UPC Ireland said that the company’s financial performance is now consolidated into the overall set of UPC’s results.

UPC’s parent company Liberty Global reported revenues today of US$6.49bn, up 11pc on last year.

Liberty Global also reported profits of US$706m compared with a net loss last year of US$80m.

By John Kennedy