UPC Reports Fast Growth in VoIP in Europe

UPC Broadband, the European broadband division of Liberty Global, Inc., has reached the milestone of deploying voice service to over one million telephony subscribers within its European footprint.



UPC's telephony deployment count has doubled over the last 15 months and has been driven by the accelerated growth of UPC's VoIP-based Digital Telephony service.



UPC Broadband is using Nortel's PacketCable and EUR-PacketCable-qualified Communication Server 2000-Compact softswitch and AudioCodes' Mediant 5000 Cable Access Gateway. The network also includes SIP-based Embedded Multimedia Terminal Adapters (E-MTAs) to deliver primary line VoIP along with high-speed Internet access.



ARRIS is also a strategic supplier, providing headend and customer premises cable telephony solutions including its integrated cable modem and telephony adapters from the ARRIS Touchstone product line.



UPC is one of the industry's first cable operators to deploy SIP-based E-MTAs, laying the foundation for new feature-rich voice and multimedia services - such as presence, instant messaging, video and mobility - and taking the first step towards the IMS architecture.



UPC initially launched its Digital Telephony service in the Netherlands, Hungary, France and Switzerland, and, more recently in Austria, Poland and Romania, expanding its footprint to seven European markets. During 2006, UPC's VoIP telephony service will be offered in the Czech and Slovak Republics and in Ireland. The networks of UPC Broadband in Europe currently pass approximately 18 million homes in Europe of which 9.3 million are ready to receive telephony service.



Going forward, the company also plans to develop and offer a VoIP/SIP-based converged product portfolio over a single IP network to both fixed and wireless networks. UPC plans to introduce integrated fixed-mobile services in Switzerland and other key markets using SIP softswitch platforms.ttp://www.arrisi.comhttp://www.lgi.com