IRELAND BEST PERFORMING COUNTRY FOR UPC - Cable television company UPC Ireland has said that subscriptions to its broadband, phone and digital television services increased by a record 100,800 in 2011. This represented 13% year-on-year growth in service subscriptions to 886,400 for last year. UPC employs 845 people directly in Ireland while it also has another 1,000 sub contractors on its books.
Dana Strong, the chief executive of UPC Ireland, says today's increased subscription figures show that consumer appetite for quality programming is still strong. She says that as the economic difficulties continue, more people are staying at home and have a renewed interest in the quality and breadth of their home entertainment services. She says the telephone side of the business is seeing strong growth with a 68% increase in home phone subscriptions. The television services, which Ms Strong described as a mature market, saw growth of 1% in 2011, while subscribers to its broadband service rose by 28%.
UPC has invested $0.5 billion in its Irish network and the Irish CEO says that the investment is a long term play. She says that Ireland outperformed all 11 countries in which UPC operates last year.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Ulster Bank says its operating losses for the year to the end of December increased to £1.024 billion sterling as it said that Irish credit conditions remained challenging. Ulster Bank said its impairment charge rose by 19%, reflecting deteriorating bad debt trends and lower prices in the mortgage book. Its parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland today revealed total losses of £2 billion in 2011, compared to £1.1 billion in 2010.
*** On the currency markets, the euro is worth $1.3289 and 84.71 sterling.
