UPC Ireland’s acquisition of Bitbuzz drives revenue up 8%

Telecommunications group bought wifi provider to the hospitality sector in December

UPC Ireland's acquisition of wifi group Bitbuzz contributed to an 8 per cent jump in revenues during the first quarter of 2015, the company said today.

The telecommunications group bought Bitbuzz, which provides wifi to a host of businesses in the hospitality sector, in December for an undisclosed sum thought to be in the region of €5-€6 million.

In a trading update, UPC Ireland said its recent acquisition and the launch of new service Bitbuzz Go was generating solid results and helping to grow its customer base.

Separately, the company said subscriptions grew by 18,000 to 1.1 million across its home and business divisions during the quarter.

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Chief financial officer Carol Grennan said UPC had made a positive start to the year.

“During the quarter, we launched Ireland’s fastest residential broadband service at 240Mbps which resulted in UPC winning four awards, including best broadband provider for a second year in a row at the Switcher Broadband 2015 Awards.”

She also noted the company's business division had expanded its service offering to include a pan-European data connectivity to a further 15 country destinations across Europe.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times