OPTUS REJECTS ONE.TEL ADMINISTRATOR COMMENTS

Comments made today by the One.Tel Administrator were grossly inaccurate, Optus Managing Director Mobile, Paul O'Sullivan, said.

One.Tel directors made the decision to put the company into Administration - not Optus or any other creditor, Mr O'Sullivan said.

"Almost immediately, the Administrator declared that the company was insolvent," he said.

"It could not guarantee to pay its workers beyond next Friday and it could not be confident of repaying the hundreds of millions of dollars owed to creditors, including Optus, nor guarantee even the day-to-day running costs."

"Under these circumstances, Optus took the only commercially responsible action available to it."

"Our initiative means that One.Tel customers connected to the Optus network are able to make a choice to continue to receive a mobile service while retaining their existing mobile phone numbers. One.Tel customers will have up to a week to make their choice, during which time Optus will bear the cost of providing the service."

"Only Optus is able to make this offer to those customers - whether they choose to accept it or switch to another service is their decision."

Mr O'Sullivan said there were a number of mistaken assertions in the Administrator's comments to the media today.

• At no stage did Optus offer to pay $30m to purchase the One.Tel customer base connected to the Optus network. It was One.Tel which approached Optus with an offer, but at a significantly higher price.
• Corporations law does not oblige Administrators to accept personal liability for the cost of services provided during the Administration period. In this case, the Administrator made it clear to Optus that he would not accept that personal liability.
• The Administrator has not asked Optus to reinstate the commercial relationship between Optus and One.Tel.

For more information:
Stephen Woodhill
Phone: 02 9342 7850