Age: 45
Nationality: American
www.upccorp.com

UPC isn't waiting for its planned merger with Excite@Home's international division to press forward with plans to bring interactive services to European customers.

In October 2000 it announced what it calls a set top computer, a souped-up set-top box that will bring digital radio and television and later e-mail, Internet access and interactive television into European homes.

The announcement follows the unveiling last July by Schneider of a merger involving UPC's chello broadband subsidiary and Excite@Home's international portal and media ventures.

The two companies plan to combine Excite@Home's set-top platform expertise with chello's rights to roll out set-top services to its customers. UPC already provides cable television, telephony, high speed Internet access and programming services via broadband.

The vision thing: "We have a triple play strategy to offer voice telephony, Internet access and digital television across Europe."

Forward spin: The nightmarish task of integrating all of its recent acquisitions could cause some quality of service issues, but this is likely to be a temporary teething problem. UPC is expected to float two companies in 2001, its residential unit and Priority Telecom, a competitive local exchange carrier that targets business customers.

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