Advanced Television

upc cablecom: results up across the board

May 7, 2014

upc_cablecomFigures are up across the board for upc cablecom in the first quarter of 2014. Switzerland’s largest cable operator increased its number of subscriptions by 21,400 to 2,560,100 in this period. The company recorded the largest growth for Internet (up 11,600 subscriptions). The higher number of customers also positively impacted on the revenue, which totalled CHF 314.8 million in the first quarter of 2014 – CHF 11.0 million or 3.6 per cent higher than the same period of the previous year.

The company now has 1,421,700 television customers, 5,300 more than on December 31st 2013. Horizon is also continuing to develop positively. The multimedia platform – the only one in Switzerland to combine television, Internet and telephony in one device – has been on the market since January 2013. upc cablecom has now attracted more than 160,000 Horizon subscribers. Some 30,000 subscribers were added in the past four months alone. Horizon will be made even more versatile and attractive in the future through further software updates.

Since April 1st 2014, the company has been offering speeds of up to 250 Mbit/s across the country. Since the end of January, customers in the town of St Gallen have been benefitting from a pilot project, the Wi-Free service. All of the WLAN modems installed in the largest town in Eastern Switzerland form an additional network which allows upc cablecom Internet subscribers to surf for free with mobile devices at all Wi-Free hotspots. The results achieved so far in the pilot project have all been positive, and consequently upc cablecom is planning to roll out Wi-Free across the rest of Switzerland this year.

The number of Internet customers increased significantly faster area than the television and telephony segments. As at March 31st 2014, upc cablecom had 675,400 Internet subscribers, 11,600 more than at the end of 2013. The number of Internet customers grew by 48,600 year on year. upc cablecom still offers the lowest price per megabit of any of the Swiss providers, even after the recent speed increase.

upc cablecom was able to increase its customer numbers across the board in the first quarter of 2014. The total number of subscriptions amounts to 2,560,100 and is thus 67,400 higher compared with the previous year.

This broad growth also increased the revenue, which rose to CHF 314.8 million – a year-on-year increase of CHF 11.0 million or 3.6 per cent. Revenue in the business customer segment even grew by a full 9 per cent compared with the first quarter of 2013. This was due to a considerable increase in the number of customers – more than 3,000 new business customers were added in 12 months to March 31st – and innovative products such as Carrier Ethernet and VoIP.

Eric Tveter, CEO of upc cablecom, commented: “It is a remarkable achievement to have grown in all areas of our business. I am pleased with what has been achieved, especially for our colleagues, who have made these results possible. And I am looking forward to the further challenges that lie ahead, such as our new Mobile service, which we launched at the end of April. On June 3rd we are expanding our digital television service even further.

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