Who Were UPC? Now Part of Virgin Media.
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UPC was a broadband and tv specialist operating both in Ireland and across Europe. All of their services within Ireland have been transferred to Virgin Media as of 2015. If you are looking for information about this process, or are looking to find more about the history of your provider, then this is the guide to get you started.
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Who Was UPC?
UPC (United Philips Cable), also known as UPC Holdings are a European telecommunications company, tracing its founding to Amsterdam in 1995 with a partnership between United International Holdings, and Philips. UPC is owned by telecoms giant Liberty Global, who provide cable television, broadband, telephony services and much more across much of Europe through their subsidiaries.
As with many companies, UPC has gone through quite a metamorphosis in its time. Let’s take a look at a short timeline of their big changes, and where they are at today.
- 1995 - Founded as United Philips Cable
- 1997 - Acquired Philips shares and re-named as United-Pan-Europe Communications
- 1999 - Listed on Euronext Amsterdam
- 2005 - Liberty Media International merged with United International Holdings (by that point called UnitedGlobalCom) to form Liberty Global
- 2005 - Liberty Global bought NTL Ireland, thereafter trading under the name UPC.
- 2006 - Chorus joins NTL, becoming Chorus NTL, later renamed Chorus i.e. and then UPC Ireland.
- 2015 - UPC purchased TV3 for €80 Million
- 2015 - UPC is merged with Virgin Media Ireland
- 2021 - It is reported that Liberty Global is seeking to sell Virgin Media Ireland after the merging of British Virgin Media and Telefónica's O2
Who Is Liberty Global?
Liberty Global operates under the consumer brands of Virgin Media, Telenet, Unitymedia and UPC. This means that although you may not recognise the brand name, chances are at some point you have actually used their service through one of their subsidiaries. Liberty Global primarily invests in infrastructure and platforms such as broadband and mobile networks to enable customers ease of access and versatility online.
From its founding in 2005, Liberty Global has grown to operate in ten countries, has a total of 20,600 employees, and in 2019 alone accumulated almost 10.5 billion euros in annual revenue, making them the world's largest broadband company. Virgin Media joined with Liberty Global in 2013, and have seen mutual growth and benefit out of the partnership.
So Am I With Liberty Global or Virgin Media?
If you take out services with a Liberty Global subsidiary such as Virgin Media, this won’t make any difference to who you need to talk to or how you manage your account. Most companies can trace their ownership to a parent company or brand, but in day-to-day life, you will only ever need to deal with the direct company with which you have made your contract.
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What Services Did UPC Offer?
Currently, there are nine Irish broadband suppliers. The offerings between these companies can vary greatly, from the simple provision of broadband services to television, phones, and more. UPC is one such multi-element company that focused on three areas of the Irish Market: cable television, broadband, and fixed-line telephone services. These services could be taken out individually, or as a part of their “Tripleplay Bundle”.
What Was UPC Mediabox?
The UPC Mediabox was introduced to Irish customers in August 2007 as a Digital+ or Digital+HD Box. This device allowed customers to view a much wider variety of freeview channels than are available as standard, while also including the functionality of being able to record shows and access applications such as Netflix. Following the success of their Mediabox launch, UPC further developed their offerings by adding the following facilities:
- August 2009 - UPC makes a HDTV service available to the public
- May 2012 - UPC TV launches an on-demand TV service
- April 2013 - UPC launched their Horizon TV service, allowing UPC customers to watch channels from multiple devices on the same broadband connection.
- August 2013 - UPC launches their Horizon HD+ box, offering HD as standard, and enabling customers to record up to four programs while watching a different channel
These developments made UPC TV one of the biggest and most popular names in Irish households for expanded TV options, without breaking the bank. Though not quite as expansive as Sky or other big names in the TV market, UPC TV was popular with those who wished to limit their entertainment spend, while still having a good amount of options to choose from.
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What's the Connection Between UPC and Virgin Media?
Though you may have originally taken out a contract or service with UPC Ireland, as of the merging of UPC and Virgin Media in 2015, all services have been transferred to the Virgin brand. Where possible, existing services were continued and honoured under the Virgin name without meaningful change, however, some customers may have had to adjust their package types depending on their ongoing support and compatibility.
How Has Virgin Media Done in the Broadband Market?
Since taking over from UPC, Virgin Media has continued to expand upon UPC’s original offering, focusing on the key areas of fibre-cable-television, broadband services, mobile phone sales and contracts, and telephone line support. Currently, Virgin Media supports 993,700 customers across Ireland, and as of September 2019, Virgin Media Ireland claims to have around 26% of all broadband subscriptions.
In October 2015, Virgin Media Ireland also launched their Virgin Mobile products, using Three’s infrastructure to provide significant signal coverage across Ireland. As of autumn 2020, Virgin Mobile is used by around 2.2% of the population, which though is currently a small figure, still covers a corner of the market that UPC was yet to venture into such as 5G service. You can also check out the latest Virgin Media reviews on Trustpilot.
What New UPC Services Are There With Virgin Media?
Through their upgrade and rebranding, the variety and value of services offered have changed drastically between UPC and Virgin Media. For example, In December 2010 UPC launched its 100Mbps Fiber Power Broadband package, making it the fastest ISP for residential customers in Ireland at the time. In September 2012, UPC increased the maximum speed available to residential customers to 150Mbps, while increasing their entry-level speed to 50Mbps.
Virgin Media currently offers speeds of 250Mbps, 500Mbps and 1Gbps speeds to users depending on their package preferences and the availability of fibre over ASDL. This leap in capabilities allows customers to comfortably use their broadband for typically heavy usage activities such as streaming on multiple devices, online gaming, working from home in multi-person households, or for businesses to reliably use one network rather than paying for several.
To put this into perspective, here are the common speeds required for standard household broadband usage
- 5 Mbps is recommended for basic Netflix streaming in low definition
- A minimum of 10 Mbps is sufficient for one person to reliably work from home, depending on the nature of your work so long as their work is not related to heavy data movements, uploads and downloads
- 25 Mbps is ideal for light use with two devices (social media, light video watching, internet browsing
- 25-35 Mbps is advisable as a minimum standard for online gaming
- 100 Mbps is the minimum for the light businesses of up to 10 users at any time
- Medium to larger businesses should avail of services of a minimum of 300 Mbps, or to have multiple dedicated networks throughout the premises to spread the usage load.
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How Can I Get in Touch with UPC Ireland?
As UPC has become a part of the Virgin Media group, they no longer operate independent call centres or have contactable departments regarding the service that they have offered in the past. Though they still operate in other countries, for Ireland your point-of-contact will be Virgin Media.
If you need to get in touch with Virgin Media as an existing customer, or a prospective one, the details below should be used.
| Contact Method | Contact Details |
|---|---|
| Calling from Abroad | 00 353 1 2458000 |
| Existing Customer/Customer Care | 1908 |
| New Customers/Non Customers | 1800 940070 |
| Office Opening Hours | Mon - Sat 9am to 6pm. |
| Postal Address | Virgin Media Ireland Limerick Enterprise Development Park, Roxboro Road, Limerick. |
Virgin Media is also available for information and further support on the social media channels of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter
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