UPC Holding is a European

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that ...

company owned by

Liberty Global Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...

which provides

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

broadband internet In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

and

fixed telephony A landline (land line, land-line, main line, home phone, fixed-line, and wireline) is a telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber telephone line for transmission, as distinguished from a mobile cellular network, which uses ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. UPC was founded in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

by United International Holdings and

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters is ...

, originally as ''United Philips Cable'', which included the cable television assets in Europe of both companies. In 1997 UnitedGlobalCom (former United International Holdings) acquired the Philips shares and renamed the company ''United Pan-Europe Communications''. In 1999 the company was listed on

Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The ...

. In 2005 Liberty Media International merged with UnitedGlobalCom and formed

. UPC was a major telecommunications provider in the world and operating in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, the

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, Slovakia and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic countries, Nordic c ...

. In 1990s before unification under UPC brand had cable companies in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

and Spain. In early 2000s had 50% shares in companies in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

History

Acquisitions

In 2005, Liberty Global Europe bought the

n communications company

Astral Telecom UPC Romania was a telecommunications company in Romania, which provided cable television, broadband internet and fixed telephony to approximately 1 million customers. On July 31, 2019, Vodafone acquired the company and it was merged into Vodafone ...

for $420 million, the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports * Swiss Internation ...

communications company

Cablecom UPC was the largest cable operator in Switzerland with around 1.1 million residential and business customers and was formed in 1994 through the merger of several cable operators. UPC has been a subsidiary of Liberty Global since 2005. On 27 Feb ...

for CHF2.8 billion, and the

n communications company UPC Telemach for EUR71 million. In 2007 UPC Telemach also bought 66.7% of Ljubljanski kabel (major competition in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

) and grew its market share to 40% in

Former UPC operations

UPC sold French Citecable operations in France in 1996, in Germany in 1997 and Spain and Portugal in 1998. In 2002, UPC sold their 47% ownership interest in Tevel Israel International Communications Ltd. In 1999, UPC purchased approximately 25% of Primacom cable company in Germany. In April 2000 UPC announced that will buy EWT/TSS Group and in 2001 EWT/TSS merged with Primacom. In 2006 UPC sold their remaining shares in company. In 2007, UPC sold their 50% shares in Melita telecommunications company in Malta to GMT Communications Partners. UPC Norway was bought by

Candover Investments Candover Investments plc. was a British-based, private equity firm, specialising in arranging and leading large buyouts and buyins. Candover Investments is structured as an investment trust An investment trust is a form of investment fund foun ...

for $542 million and changed the name to

Get AS Get AS was a Norwegian cable-TV operator and internet service provider. Get had its head office in Oslo, with local offices in Drammen, Greåker, Arendal, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Trondheim and Stjørdal. Today, Telia operates ...

. UPC France was sold for $1.56 billion, in 2006, to Noos (Ypso Holding) before being integrated into

Numericable Numericable was a major French cable operator and telecommunications services company. Numericable was originally created in 2007 from the merger between former competitors Noos and NC Numericable networks. Numericable Group SA was founded in Aug ...

and then

SFR SFR (; ''Société française du radiotéléphone'', ) is a French telecommunications company. As of December 2015, it had 21.9 million customers in Metropolitan France for mobile services, and provided 6.35 million households with high-spee ...

in 2016. UPC Sweden was sold in April 2006 for $427 million to

Com Hem Com Hem was a Swedish brand owned by Tele2 AB which supplied Triple Play services that included cable television, broadband internet and fixed-line telephone. Founded in 1983 as Televerket Kabel-TV as part of the former state-owned Televerke ...

. UPC acquired in 2005, the majority stake in the Telemach operator in Slovenia, renaming it UPC Telemach. After the complete acquisition of all shares in 2008, the name was changed to UPC. In 2009 the company was resold to Telemach, returning to the old name. In October 2015,

UPC Ireland Virgin Media Ireland is Liberty Global's telecommunications operation in Ireland. It is the largest digital cable television provider within the country. As of 31 December 2014, the company offers broadband internet, digital television and d ...

Was merged with Virgin Media Ireland, UPC got first rebranded with Chorus:NTL in 2010.

UPC Netherlands UPC Nederland ( en, UPC Netherlands) was the second largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing cable television (digital and analogue), broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers. In early 2 ...

merged with

Ziggo Ziggo Holding B.V. () is the largest cable operator in the Netherlands, providing digital cable television, Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers. History The company is the result of the merger between ...

, another Liberty Global subsidiary. The new company was formed under name Ziggo and in 2016 merged with

Vodafone Netherlands Vodafone Libertel B.V. is the second largest mobile phone company in the Netherlands, and was previously called Libertel. It is part of VodafoneZiggo, a joint venture between Liberty Global and Vodafone. It offers 2G GSM, 2.5G GPRS on the 900& ...

to form

VodafoneZiggo VodafoneZiggo Group Holding B.V. is a Dutch joint venture between Vodafone Plc and Ziggo B.V., announced in February 2016, approved by the European Commission in August 2016 and completed in December 2016. VodafoneZiggo is headquartered in Ut ...

. UPC Austria was acquired by T-Mobile Austria on 31 July 2018 and fully integrated in Magenta Telekom in May 2019. In July 2019,

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

bought Liberty Global operations in Germany where operates Unitymedia, another Liberty Global subsidiary, Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic. On March 31, 2020 UPC Czech Republic merged with Vodafone Czech Republic, UPC Hungary merged with

Vodafone Hungary Vodafone Hungary is the third largest mobile operator in Hungary. It started operations in 1999 after securing the third GSM 900/1800 MHz licence of the country and it was the first provider operating in the DCS-1800 band in Hungary. Vodafo ...

and UPC Romania merged with

Vodafone Romania Vodafone Romania S.A. is a Romanian mobile phone network operator. It launched in April 1997 as the first GSM network in Romania. Before acquisition by Vodafone, it was known as Connex, after which it was rebranded Connex-Vodafone and in Apr ...

UPC Poland UPC Polska ( en, UPC Poland) is Iliad's telecommunications operation in Poland. It is one of the largest provider of broadband internet, digital television, telephony and mobile services (as an MVNO based on Play's network) in Poland. It was founde ...

was sold to Polish cellular telecommunications provider

Play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

(owned by Iliad Group) for US$1.8 billion. Deal was closed on April 1, 2022. In May 2022, Liberty Global re-branded its Swiss operation, Sunrise UPC, as simply Sunrise.

Divisions

In 1997 the company started offering broadband internet and landline telephony in the Netherlands. These services have also been extended to other countries under the

chello Chello was the brand of internet service provider-activities of Liberty Global Europe (formerly UGC), a provider of broadband internet access via cable in Europe, with estimated 1.3 million customers across its markets. LGE operates in 15 Europe ...

brand for internet services and Priority Telecom for telephony and later for b2b services. In 2007 the company replaced the chello brand with UPC for internet services. UPC operated several television channels under the UPCtv brand, and later after the acquisition of Zone Vision merged with it under the Zone Media brand and later rebranded as

Chello Zone AMC Networks International UK (EMEA) (formerly AMC Networks International Zone (EMEA), Chello Zone, Zone Vision and Zone Media) is a London, UK-based television company, founded in 1991 by Chris Wronski and owned by AMC Networks International. H ...

, part of

Chellomedia AMC Networks International is the division of AMC Networks that operates outside the United States. AMC Networks commissions and distributes TV channels, content and video services. The division's operating companies and business units currently ...

. Chellomedia was sold in 2014 to

AMC Networks AMC Networks Inc. is an American entertainment company headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York. AMC Networks owns and operates the eponymous cable channel and its siblings, IFC, We TV, and Sundance TV; the art house movie theater IFC ...

and renamed as

AMC Networks International AMC Networks International is the division of AMC Networks that operates outside the United States. AMC Networks commissions and distributes TV channels, content and video services. The division's operating companies and business units currently ...

References

External links

UPC Slovakia

UPC Switzerland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Upc Broadband Liberty Global Multinational companies headquartered in the Netherlands