UPC Holding is a European

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

company owned by

Liberty Global Liberty Global Ltd. is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company domiciled in Bermuda, with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Holdings Limited (UK), Liberty Glo ...

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 or high speed is the wide- bandwidth data transmission that exploits signals at a wide spread of frequencies or several different simultaneous frequencies, and is used in fast Internet access. The transmission m ...

and

fixed telephony A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. UPC was founded in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

by United International Holdings and

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

, originally as ''United Philips Cable'', which included the cable television assets in Europe of both companies. In 1997

UnitedGlobalCom Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in the Formula One Group, ...

(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 re ...

. In 2005 Liberty Media International merged with UnitedGlobalCom and formed

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

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

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

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, the

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, Slovakia and

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. 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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

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

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

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 most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

communications company Cablecom 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 {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

) 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. On 31 August 2010, Candover announced that it would unw ...

for $542 million and changed the name to

Get AS Get AS was a Norwegian cable television operator and internet service provider. Get had its head office in Oslo, with local offices in Drammen, Greåker, Arendal, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Haugesund, Bergen, Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ) ...

. 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 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 Telever ...

. 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. the company offers broadband internet, digital television digital (VoIP) telephony and ...

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

UPC Netherlands UPC Nederland () 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 2015, UPC Nederland sta ...

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 to form

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

. UPC Austria was acquired by T-Mobile Austria on 31 July 2018 and fully integrated in

Magenta Telekom T-Mobile Austria GmbH, trading as Magenta Telekom is the second largest mobile and fixed company in Austria. It is owned by Deutsche Telekom. In 2022 it had 5.2 million customers. Its CEO is Rodrigo Diehl since 1 October 2022. History The c ...

in May 2019. In July 2019,

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

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

Vodafone Czech Republic Vodafone Czech Republic a.s. is a Czech telecommunications company, owned by Vodafone Group. It is among the largest Czech companies by revenue. It was established as Český Mobil in 1999, when the government of Miloš Zeman granted it a free ...

, UPC Hungary merged with Vodafone Hungary and

UPC Romania 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 Vodafo ...

merged with

Vodafone Romania Vodafone Romania S.A. is a Romanian telecommunications operator owned by Vodafone Group Plc. It launched in April 1997 as the first GSM network in Romania. Before acquisition by Vodafone Group Plc, it was known as Connex, after which it wa ...

. UPC Poland 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 1 April 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 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 Zone Vision, Zone Media, Chello Zone and AMC Networks International Zone (EMEA), is a British television media company founded in 1991 by Chris Wronski and owned by AMC Networks International as i ...

, 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 currentl ...

. Chellomedia was sold in 2014 to

AMC Networks AMC Networks Inc. is an American mass media and entertainment corporation headquartered in 11 Penn Plaza, New York City. The company owns and operates the AMC cable channel, BBC America, IFC, Sundance TV, and We TV. It also owns the art ho ...

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 current ...

References

External links

UPC Slovakia

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