UNE Receives Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Award

The Company received the 2010 Colombia Telecommunications Market Customer Value Enhancement Award

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Nov. 10, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- UNE has been presented with the Frost & Sullivan Colombia Customer Value Enhancement Award in the Telecommunications Market as a result of a recent and rigorous research process amongst players in the industry. This award recognizes UNE's accomplishments and superior performance in the market, impacting brand value and thereby accelerating its growth.

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The Customer Value Enhancement Award emphasizes UNE's work overcoming barriers related mainly to the bargain power shift from service providers to customers, whose exigency level has reached unparallel patterns. In this scenario, special attention to quality of services, differentiated customer service, granted network availability, customized service level agreements (SLAs), value-added services and service affordability are key factors to make offerings well-accepted in an increasingly more competitive market in Colombia. UNE presented an outstanding result regarding these factors when compared to its competitors.

In the broadband segment, UNE has particularly stood out as the market leader in terms of number of broadband connections. The company achieved a top-3 market position in the Colombian market during the last three years. During 2009, UNE managed to exhibit a growth of 20.6%, in comparison with growth rates below 15.1% experienced by the competitors in this industry. This is also the case for its pay TV service, in which the company presented by far the highest growth if compared to any other participant in this market, which in fact exhibited decreasing growth rates. Also in the declining fixed telephony market that shrunk in 2009, UNE achieved expansion in the number of lines in service.

For the Customer Value Enhancement Award, Frost & Sullivan used several criteria to benchmark UNE's performance, as innovation, adaptability, quality and brand recognition.

"Based on the findings of this Best Practices research, UNE showed inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and ultimately customer base expansion," concluded Jose Roberto Mavignier, Industry Manager for Frost & Sullivan's Information & Communication Technologies practice in Latin America.

The Colombian market is currently facing a consolidation stage, after which 80% of the market is expected to be in hands of the two major regional telecommunication carriers present in the country. UNE is positioning itself differently than its competitors, as a reliable third operator that in spite of its condition as local carrier, is providing innovative applications, high quality networks and services and superior customer attention.  This is evident as UNE has a high level of customer retention at 72%, as of December 2009.

UNE will be receiving the award during the 2010 Frost & Sullivan Latin America Best Practices Excellence Banquet, to be held December 2nd, at the Renaissance Hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com.

Contact Information:

Tatiana Brull – Latin America Media Relations – tatiana.brull@frost.com

Jose Roberto Mavignier – Latin America ICT Industry Manager: joseroberto.mavignier@frost.com

About UNE

EPM Telecomunicaciones was created in July 2006, as a result of the partition of the public Incumbent company EPM (Empresas Publicas de Medellin) in 3 strategic infrastructure groups: energy, water and telecommunications. Under the brand UNE, it was constituted as a 100% Colombian public company, with EPM as the biggest shareholder. UNE provides telecommunications and information technologies services countrywide in Colombia. UNE provides solutions in data transmission, voice and video to the Corporate, Small and Medium Enterprises, as well as to the Residential segment providing high security, quality and efficiency.

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan