Robert Dunn, chief executive of UPC Ireland
GIVEN THE heavy flak he's endured since taking charge of cable TV businesses NTL and Chorus two years ago, Scot Robert Dunn would be forgiven for wearing a helmet and body armour when doing media interviews.
Parachuted in by Colorado-based parent Liberty Global in 2006 to marshal a €600 million upgrade in the NTL/Chorus cable TV networks, Dunn has taken a pounding over its legendary customer service shortcomings.
In the meantime, Sky Ireland has been hanging satellite dishes at a furious pace and is within a whisker of becoming Ireland's biggest pay-TV provider.
Dunn decided to keep his head down on landing here, choosing to refresh the troops and restock his arsenal before launching a counterattack on the market.
"The infrastructure needed a substantial upgrade," Dunn concedes. "NTL had started that in the year 2000 but for various reasons they hadn't completed it. On the Chorus side there had been some small upgrades but nothing significant."
Slowly but surely the NTL and Chorus networks have been upgraded and customers can now access a dizzying number of digital TV and radio channels and a digital video recorder that allows them record up to 80 hours of programming and get interactive services. This puts it on a par with Sky's satellite technology.
By the end of 2008, UPC Ireland, NTL and Chorus's immediate parent group, will have spent about €280 million on its cable network.
The Glaswegian expects it to spend the same again over the next two to three years. That's in addition to the €400 million-plus it paid to acquire the businesses.
This should give it the firepower to challenge not just Sky and others in the pay-TV market but also a raft of broadband and telecoms providers, including Eircom, as it seeks out the holy grail of triple play.
"The upgrade is central to our business," he told The Irish Times earlier this week from UPC's head office in Dublin's Eastpoint Business Park, just north of the Liffey.
"The investment programme is starting to pay dividends but it's a massive programme."
He even makes the bold claim that, when UPC launches high definition (HD) TV next year, it will be superior to Sky, which launched HD a couple of years back.
"It's an open secret that Sky's HD is not true high definition because they can't get a high enough bit rate [broadband speed] off their transponder. When we launch HD it will be a different high-definition experience."
Rivals scoff at the suggestion that UPC is making any headway.They highlight the fact that NTL and Chorus have lost 15,600 TV customers over the past year. For all its investment in upgrading its fraying cables, the pair have managed to sign up just 13,900 telephone customers - hardly worth getting out of bed for.
"It takes time, particularly with things like the phone. There's been a couple of false dawns here, Smart [Telecom] is a good example of that. There's a lot of consumer scepticism. They're not going to bite your hand off to take this. That's not the environment anymore."
Broadband has been a somewhat better tale for UPC to tell. At the end of March, the cable operator had 88,000 internet customers, placing it in a clutch of groups - including BT Ireland and Vodafone - vying for second spot in the rankings behind Eircom.
Yet the number is just 20 per cent of the 420,000 homes that can potentially receive the service. Hardly a massive breakthrough.
Dunn disagrees. "I don't think it's disappointing. Broadband penetration in Ireland is low, the latest stats are 45 per cent roughly. We have to do a better job communicating the advantages of our product. That's an ongoing activity. Do I want to do better? Yeah, sure I do, but it's ok."
To be fair, UPC's broadband service is both faster and cheaper than Eircom's equivalent residential products. "A concrete example is that we announced our speed increase in February, taking our 3MB to 6MB and our 6MB to 12MB and we delivered that in March. Eircom announced a speed increase in January but if you look at the website today they haven't delivered on that speed increase yet."
Dunn then proudly announces a further round of speed increases next week. "We're going to take our entry product up from 1MB to 3MB and we'll be selling that for €20." Dunn also points out that rival Sky does not offer broadband or fixed-line phone services here, unlike in the UK market.
"What will be interesting is whether, ultimately, they [Sky] take the same steps as in the UK but they haven't done that yet and they don't have triple play here."
Dunn's other big challenge is to sort out the company's brand. To its 578,600 television subscribers, it is either NTL or Chorus, depending on where they live. UPC acquired NTL in 2004 and Chorus the following year.
Plans to ditch these brands and replace them with the UPC Ireland name were shelved some time ago. That won't now happen until some time in 2009, by which time Dunn hopes the legacy of customer service issues will have been solved.
"I want to make sure that we've solved all of the issues so that when we come through on the rebrand we can stand behind it."
He accepts that NTL/Chorus's image with subscribers is poor. "I think the customer service reputation is low, but I think we've changed a lot.
"In changing a lot, we've in the short run added to that disruption slightly. But we're absolutely focused on changing the mindset in our organisation and getting it right first time."
Dunn says a lot of time and money has been spent on training staff into the new IT systems. The team handling written complaints is now situated outside his office.
"I want the people the length and breadth of the organisation to know that I'm actively interested and that if they don't do the right thing by the customer then I'm going to find out why and make sure they do."
Dunn comes across as a hard-working, matter-of-fact individual. He cycles to work from Ranelagh on the southside, arriving at about 8.30am, and usually puts in a 12-hour stint at his desk. It's a tough grind for somebody with two young sons but Dunn says he has no regrets about his move here from UPC's European head office in Amsterdam.
"I've really enjoyed the past two years . . . I'm definitely not bored and I don't think I'm finished.
"I was talking to my boss the other day and saying I still see another two years to go before we've really licked this thing into shape from what we acquired. He wasn't necessarily giving that."
So when will UPC Ireland make a bottom-line profit? There's a long pause and a little huffing and puffing before Dunn says Liberty Global is happy with its return to date. "It's there or thereabouts."
