UPC Romania plans to invest EUR 50 mln this year after 9% sales increase in 2015

Telecom company UPC Romania, which is part of American group Liberty Global group, plans to invest more than EUR 50 million this year in launching new digital services and developing its network, according to Robert Redeleanu, CEO UPC Romania. The company’s revenues increased by 9.2% to over EUR 142 million in 2015, as it gained more clients on all its business segments. “The constant investments in innovation and in expanding the network have increased UPC’s customer base and revenues in 2015,” said Robert Redeleanu. UPC Romania increased its coverage for digital services by some 300,000 households, or 13%, compared to 2014. The company’s customer base also increased by 4.8% year-on-year, reaching 1.24 million, and the total number of services contracted by UPC clients went up by over 10%, to 2.13 million. Part of this increase came from the takeover of local cable and internet operators in Prahova and Suceava, which added more than 37,000 contracted services to the UPC’s portfolio. UPC Romania gained more than 55,000 new Fiber Link broadband internet customers, reaching 488,000 clients on this segment. The digital television also brought 44,800 new subscriptions to the company, which represents an 8% year-on-year increase. At December 31, the company had a total of more than 593,000 digital TV subscriptions. On the fixed telephony segment, UPC had over 400,000 clients at the end of 2015. UPC’s main competitors in Romania are Telekom Romania and RCS&RDS. Orange Romania also plans to launch service bundles including broadband internet and cable TV after signing an agreement with Telekom Romania to use its infrastructure for fixed services. Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com