REVENUES AT cable television and broadband provider UPC Ireland came to €58.9 million in the three months to the end of March, a rise of 4.8 per cent on the same period in 2007, according to results published yesterday.

The company, which owns the NTL and Chorus cable TV groups, said its operating cash flow rose by 30.6 per cent to €22.6 million over the same period, while its capital expenditure fell to €16.4 million from €25.3 million.

UPC said it had 86,500 broadband subscribers in Ireland at the end of March. This represented a increase of 6,000 on the previous quarter and maintained its position as the second-biggest broadband player behind Eircom.

The company also had 13,900 telephone customers, up 3,500 on the previous three-month period.

While growing, these numbers indicate that UPC is making slow progress in persuading customers to sign up to its triple play of services – TV, broadband and phone.

In all, 248,700 homes can receive triple play, yet just 5.5 per cent subscribe to the service.

In addition, UPC reported a decline in its television subscriber base. The number of homes taking analogue or digital TV services from the company at the end of March was 578,600, down from 585,000 at the end of December.

Of this, 229,400 subscribed to its premium digital cable service, an increase of 3,300 on the previous quarter.

Commenting on the results, Anna-Maria Barry, UPC Ireland’s public relations manager, said: “We added a net 21,200 revenue generating units across our product range year-on-year and are pleased with the upward subscriber growth trend, particularly for our broadband and telephone products.”

UPC is owned by Colorado-based Liberty Global and has operations across Europe and in Chile.

The company reported total revenue of €870 million in the three months to the end of March, a rise of 5.9 per cent on the same period in 2007.