UPC, 110.9m-euro goodwill impairment charge for Romanian unit

Dutch-based UPC budgeted a one-off charge of 110.9 million euros to impair a portion of the goodwill associated with its Romanian reporting unit, amid a 5.5% decline in the overall number of clients, to 1.263 million. The decline in the overall number of clients was mainly generated by the loss of 15.7% of subscribers for analog cable TV services, from 1.185 million at the end of 2007 to 998,200 on December 31st, 2008, according to reports of the Dutch-based provider of cable TV, Internet and telecommunications services. On all other market segments, UPC Romania managed to attract new customers. The number of UPC subscribers to digital TV services on the Romanian market has seen an almost threefold rise, from 37,400 to 109,900. Around 40,000 new clients were attracted on the DTH segment, from 115,000 at the end of 2007, to 155,300, accounting for a 35% rise. On the Internet segment, the client base of UPC Romania rose 30.5%, to 237,300 subscribers, while the number of clients for telephone services provided by the company, went up by around 28,000, a 28.8% rise, from 96,400 to 124,200 subscribers, UPC reports also reveal. The overall number of Revenue Generating Units (a customer can subscribe to several services) was slightly up, by 0.5%, from 1.615 million to 1.624 million contracts.