UPC agrees Microsoft deal on broadband and voice products

CABLE TV and telecoms provider UPC has agreed a major deal with Microsoft that will allow it to bundle the computer giant's Office 365 cloud service with its own broadband and voice products for sale to the corporate market, The Irish Timeshas learned.

The deal is part of a pan-European agreement between UPC and Microsoft, which will be announced later today, along with a global launch of Office 365 by the computer giant.

Ireland will be the first of UPC’s 10 markets in Europe to launch the bundles. Microsoft is planning the global launch of its new Office 365 product later today.

Partnering with Microsoft is a significant coup for UPC as it will give the company added firepower when targeting the Irish market for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

UPC already has the fastest broadband speeds in the Irish market and its bundles, with voice and TV, have significantly undercut most of its competitors.

Office 365 brings online versions of Microsoft’s Exchange, SharePoint and Lync products together with Office desktop software as a single cloud service.

This will allow customers to work with e-mail accounts, documents, contacts and calendars from any location using a desktop PC, laptop and mobile equipment.

Data is stored remotely (or in the “cloud”) rather than on employees’ computers and it can be recovered if deleted or lost.

The servers are managed by Microsoft. The entry level product, called Professional 365, will offer a 20Mb broadband, four voice line and five licences for the Microsoft cloud software for €89. The Premium Plus 365 will offer broadband speeds of 100Mb, six phone lines and five Office 365 licences for €154.

These prices should prove popular with SME customers. UPC will be the first to launch this service into the Irish market although it is understood that mobile phone group O2 has agreed a similar deal with Microsoft.

UPC will pitch its bundled service to customers as a cost saving product, offering the fastest broadband speeds in the marketplace.

The company claims to have increased its business with SMEs by 124 per cent in the past year. It has about 6,500 SMEs as customers.

“In the past 18 months, we’ve really started to gain traction in the market,” Gavan Smyth, UPC’s business services director said.

Mr Smyth said the bundled UPC-Microsoft products would allow companies to save money by reducing their IT maintenance and increase productivity.

UPC also plans to target public service bodies and large corporates with its bundled product and will kick-off an extensive marketing campaign today.

“We expect there will be significant take-up of the bundles,” Mr Smyth said.

UPC says it is one of only a small number of players chosen by Microsoft as a partner for the Office 365 product.