LIBERTY GLOBAL
Julie Fedele , VP of Emerging Business Activation at Liberty Global , on emerging business , venture partnerships and opening new markets
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L iberty Global could be the biggest enterprise you ’ ve never heard of . It ’ s not really a household name , though the household is where it is to be found in the guise of its much more recognisable European brands Virgin Media , UPC and Telenet , and in the Netherlands Vodafone Ziggo . Liberty Global is among the largest converged video , broadband and telecommunication companies , with annual revenues of US $ 11bn , 11 million customers and 20,000 employees .
This company has grown since its foundation in 2005 by means of a canny and active M & A strategy , riding the crest of the wave of transformation as telecoms has evolved through technology – a process serially documented in these pages . Its latest announcement , the creation of 4,000 jobs by merging the UK operations of Virgin Media and Britain ’ s largest mobile operator O2 ( owned by Telefónica ) is at once creative and aggressively competitive . Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries is keen to seize opportunities in the dynamic markets of Europe : “ When the power of 5G meets 1 gig broadband , UK consumers and businesses will never look back .”
NOVEMBER 2020