UPCO INTERNATIONAL - UNIVERSAL PLATFORMS ARE IN DEMAND
The Canadian telecommunications company UPCO has recognized the needs of its customers with its technical developments. As a voice service and payment provider, UPCO operates primarily in emerging markets and sub-regions, especially where local monopolists charge very high telecommunications services. Those who rule scarcity can dictate prices. UPCO jumps into these local structures and buys larger minute quotas, which in turn can be used by its customers on the move. The whole thing is done without unnecessary contracts, just by Click & Pay in the Company's app.
But not only can third-party services be sold so easily, UPCO is also strong in integrating value-added services. By using blockchain technology credit cards, accounts, and crypto payment systems can also be linked. This feature is expected to go online as early as this year. It will provide UPCO customers with a communication app with universal payment functions.
In a Christmas letter to shareholders, CEO Andrea Pagani outlined his plan for the coming years: expansion on different continents, launching UPCO Pay and further cutting costs, as well as reducing debt. Marketing and sales will also be strengthened to broaden the business base.
UPCO believes it is ideal for pandemic-induced changes in human habits and goes into the new year with high expectations. One will occupy interesting niches and have a global mobile presence. The speculative stock currently has a capitalization of only CAD 4.5 million - that's not much for its existing and future portfolio of services.
NETFLIX - WITH LOCKDOWN COMES COMPETITION
Netflix Inc. was founded back in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Los Gatos, California and initially operated as an online video store shipping movies on DVD and Blu-ray to its subscribers. In 2007, Netflix entered the video-on-demand business, making its content available to subscribers via streaming. By March 2020, the media service had nearly 3,000 movies and TV shows available for streaming. By December 2020, Netflix had signed up almost 197 million paid subscriptions since the Company's founding, including 74 million in the US and Canada alone. In 2020, the Company's stock market value surpassed The Walt Disney Company for the first time, at nearly USD 195 billion.
Competition in the streaming sector is growing strongly, especially in the USA. The widespread availability of fast Internet is boosting business here. In the first three quarters of 2020, the major pay-TV providers in the US lost 3.75 million video subscribers to smaller successors, according to Leichtman Research Group, compared with 4.9 million fewer pay customers the year before. According to Parks Associates, Netflix may be the leading VOD service in the US, followed by Amazon Prime Video, based on subscriber count, but new entrants are drawing strong interest. For example, Disney has also been in the top 5 for several months with its services, Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+.