UPC’s €3m rebrand offers fastest speed broadband to 340,000 houses

UPC has scrapped the Chorus and NTL brands as it unveils plans to offer customers 100 megabits per second broadband –the fastest speed available in Ireland.

The cable company will spend €3 million over the coming months on the rebrand. It would not, however, reveal details of the pricing structure for the broadband, but it will be available to 340,000 homes.

UPC also confirmed yesterday that it has acquired Broadworks which was in liquidation. This will give it access to about 6,600 homes in west Dublin and Meath.

The rebrand and new services are the culmination of a €330m investment in UPC’s next-generation network in Ireland and, according to the company, is a step closer to the 120Mbps speeds it envisages by the end of this year.

The company will be packaging the product in a triple play format with high-definition TV, zero line rental from Eircom and the 100Mbps connectivity.

It said these types of products are central to a digital economy and are “must have” items for foreign investors looking to enter the Irish economy.

Chief executive of UPC Ireland, Robert Dunn, said high-speed broadband delivered as part of the fibre upgrade is demonstrating the power of cable to deliver advanced services to the Irish market.

“Broadband take-up is significantly higher in markets where cable is challenging the incumbent through aggressive investment and delivery of ultra fast fibre speed broadband,” he said.

“Broadband access is increasingly the customer battleground in the telecommunications market. Markets with multiple players backed by the right investment will trigger competition and allow consumers to enjoy a wide plethora of choice and stimulate rapid innovation.”

He said the position adopted by the regulator, Government and market participants is critical to ensure a vibrant consumer market develops in Ireland.

UPC is the European division of Liberty Global. At the end of 2009 it had 504,800 TV subscribers, 148,100 broadband customers and provided telephone services to 60,000 homes.

Communications Minister Eamon Ryan said: “The speeds of broadband that we are beginning to see in Ireland are evidence that the Government’s policy of competition in the market is working.”