Rainbow Communications Gobbles N.Ireland ISP UTV Connect

Belfast-based broadband and phone ISP UTV Group has sold its UK residential and Ireland-based business customers to Rainbow Communications for an undisclosed sum so that they can re-focus on the TV broadcasting side of their business and “exit from non-core activities including UTV Connect“.

According to a post on UTV Connect’s website, the decision was taken following a “strategic review of our business earlier this year” and the transfer is due to become effective from 1st July 2014. In a statement UTV said, “As a result of this decision we have signed an agreement with one of the UK and Ireland’s leading telecoms companies, Rainbow Communications to acquire our residential customer base in Northern Ireland which will ensure our customers continue to receive a high quality service from a well-respected telecoms provider.”

Customers caught up in the unexpected development are being redirect to an FAQ page on Raindow’s website, which informs them that “initially you will not notice any change in your service provision,” before promising to upgrade their connections to a “faster and more stable … business grade” BTWholesale connection.

Apparently there will be no changes to the services Terms and Conditions (T&Cs), although Rainbow does warn that they don’t accept Credit or Debit Card payments (bit unusual perhaps) and will instead only take Direct Debits. We suspect that this may cause some customers a bit of irritation.

Eric Carson of Rainbow Communications said:

“The purchase of UTV Connect’s customer base represents a significant step change for our business development. In one transaction, our customer base has passed the 10 000th mark and we have been able to add a significant number of well established local businesses as well as number of smaller businesses alongside a thriving residential base.

UTV Connect’s customer base represented a very attractive strategic fit for us and we are confident that the new range of products and services open to UTV Connect customers by Rainbow Communications will help drive real telecoms benefits for their businesses.

With over 100 staff at our Belfast head office we can provide an unrivalled level of local service which we believe is crucial in the highly competitive telecoms market. Business customers need to know that there is someone there, on the ground, to help them develop their business opportunities and to be there on the occasions when things don’t quite go according to plan.”

Rainbow Communications have traditionally been more of a business provider, so hopefully they don’t forget about their home users. At the time of writing we couldn’t find any residential broadband packages on their website and the business services all require you to contact them for a quote, which might suggest that they either haven’t update their website yet or don’t intend to grow that side of the business (home users rarely go for the “contact us” first approach).