FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S. Cable company Liberty Global (LBTYA) has appointed a European mobile chief as it pushes into wireless services to meet growing demand for television, broadband, mobile and fixed-line services - so-called \"quad play\" - from one provider. <\/p>\n
The quad move could be a threat to operators in the crowded German sector as they scramble for a share of Europe's largest telecoms market. <\/p>\n
Liberty said on Friday it had appointed Graeme Oxby as managing director of its European Mobile operations. <\/p>\n
Oxby was director of Mobile & Home Phone at Virgin Media, which Liberty earlier this year bought in a stock-and-cash deal worth about $15.8 billion. <\/p>\n
Liberty has been testing the waters as a so-called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in Europe, including in Britain, Belgium and Germany - where it owns the No. 2 cable company Unitymedia KabelBW - but has not made a serious push so far. <\/p>\n
MVNOs are operators who rent access on bigger rivals' networks and tend to sell cheaper mobile plans, often without a long-term contract and targeted at youth or ethnic niches. <\/p>\n
In Britain, Virgin Media offers superfast wireless broadband services to businesses, which are increasingly looking to buy fixed, mobile and other telecom services from a single provider to save costs and simplify billing. <\/p>\n
\"In this new role Graeme will further develop Liberty Global's core mobile network to become a full MVNO operator in most of its European operations,\" the company said on Friday. <\/p>\n
CABLE GOES MOBILE <\/p>\n
A rise in demand for \"quad play\" services was the main reason that British telecoms group Vodafone (VOD.L) splashed out 7.7 billion euros ($10.4 billion) to buy Kabel Deutschland, Germany's biggest cable operator, this year. <\/p>\n
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Liberty Global names European mobile chief in 'quad' push<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" FRANKFURT (Reuters) - U.S. Cable company Liberty Global (LBTYA) has appointed a European mobile chief as it pushes into wireless services to meet growing demand for television, broadband, mobile and fixed-line services - so-called \"quad play\" - from one provider Continue reading