Revenues up nearly 20pc at UPC Ireland

11-05-2007

by Emmet Ryan

Liberty Global the parent company of UPC, which in turn is parent of NTL and Chorus, has reported revenues of USD2.1 billion in its first quarter results.

This represents an 11 percent increase on the same quarter last year. Operating cash flow was up 16 percent to USD825 million.

The Irish side of the business put in a healthy quarter with revenues of USD73.7 million, up 19.4 percent from the previous year. Operating cash flow came in at USD22.6 million, up 21.5 percent from the first quarter of 2006.

"It was a solid quarter for us," Robert Dunn, chief executive of UPC Ireland (Chorus and NTL combined) told ENN. "The growth in the period has been driven by the level of investment Liberty Global has put into the business."

Dunn said he was pleased with the increased adoption of the firm's broadband and digital television offerings. "We're particularly delighted with the continued customer growth levels in broadband which have almost doubled year on year to 62,900. Over 50 percent of our TV subscribers now have digital, representing over 56,700 new customers year on year," he said.

The UPC Ireland chief executive told ENN that the next step for the firm was to expand the reach of its telephony service. "We are looking at having 400,000 homes enabled for phone by the end of 2007," said Dunn. He said the service would be rolled out in areas that were covered by Chorus before the merger, including Limerick and Cork, in the third quarter of this year.

Dunn said the availability of more channels had increased the appeal of the firm's television offerings to customers in those regions. He expected stations such as Setanta Sports, which was previously only available to NTL customers, would spur further demand for the firm's products.

"From August Setanta has more football with coverage of the [English] FA Premier League and FA Cup. They also have the rights to the Rugby World Cup," said Dunn.

In July UPC Ireland plans to launch a DVR which will be compatible with their digital service allowing users to record up to 80 hours of programmes on a 160GB hard drive. The DVR will be available for a rental fee.