I am a trader as well as an investor and hopefully this thread will reflect both aspects ....

We should start by saying this is a highly speculative share and the market takes no prisoners.

Over the last 18 months I made lots twice in the early days - then lost it back - bought a million at 2.6p average - founded the TAG - bought another half a million or so at sub 1p - sold most at average 4.25 - bought back at 2.2p and less - sold most at 3.5p and now buying back - overall a good net profit at this time.

I think the d4e will happen (say 90% chance) and the 3% currently talked about will give or should give a price equating to say 3/5p. Longer term on succcess of d4e and progress in the sales market the shares should move to around 10p - assumming markets are not in freefall.

I am looking to buy at any time and hoping for a war generated dip - when I do I will let you know.

The TAG site is a great place for catching up on the TWT news and I will post here as well.

Currently trading on TWT is light (1.7 million traded) and the price is down a littlw with a wide spread (2.01/2.35p). This is a sets share and you must expect a crtain amount of manipulation in these troubled times - FTSE down over 4% intraday

I have a core holding of at least half a million shares and intend to be a long term investor at this time.


ainsoph


http://www.investoraction.co.uk - currently we have 804 registered members holding around 100 million shares in total

all right then 2.2p it is

From Europemedia


E1.4 government broadband spending aimed at 6 companies
15/05/2003
Editor: David Minto

Six companies are set to receive the lions share of a government plan to spend E1.41bn (GBP1bn) over the next five years in upgrading government offices to broadband.

The announcement of the list, which includes two of the biggest names in the business, BT and Telewest, was made yesterday, after the Office of Government Commerce selected its preferred suppliers following a competitive invitation to tender process. The other four companies are Easynet, Fujitsu, Kingston Communications and Synetrix.

According to the Financial Times, the decision means that government departments and local authorities will be encouraged to use one of the six broadband suppliers, who have all negotiated fixed terms to secure their place on the list. Authorities and departments will not be prohibited from selecting a broadband provider not on the list, but to do so will mean they have to carry out their own selection procedure and tendering process, a move that could potentially be both long and costly.

The OGC told the Financial Times that the companies selected for the shortlist had been "assessed on their ability to provide quality, value-for-money broadband services."

In a separate announcement earlier this week, the UK telecoms regulator, Oftel, revealed that 14 per cent of homes in the UK now use broadband. Oftel also said that home internet penetration has risen from the 42 per cent plateau it had rested on for the nine months up to November 2002, and had now reached 45 per cent, with an average usage time of 10 hours per week.

Keith

You are working too many hours .

K

hi ains

I like the news above but have to say that Easynet or none of the others appeals more

at least that way the shareholders benefit as to 100% of the profits

there is not much point in TWT securing large deals when the existing holders will effectively only benefit to the tune of 3.5% of any income from them

dick ... the 3% is factored in and I actually think it's been factored in twice. ie the shares should be worth at least in the new formatand that means 3.3 againsy the 2.3p currently for the shares quoted. This is not a moni - if the bottom line moves up 10% then the 3 moves up 10% (or more) and the current shares move from a notional 3.3p to 3.6p or so ..... we still get all the benefits.



ains

Oddly I agree 100% with ainsoph on this one, but having bgt. some at 4.05p, and adding some yesterday at 2.2p any port in a storm I guess

Telewest to get new email service after spam attacks
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 16/05/2003 at 10:51 GMT


Telewest punters are set to suffer more disruption to their service next week when the cableco moves its email service to a new platform.

The move follows weeks of hassle for Telewest users as the ISP's email service collapsed under a deluge of spam.

After a second spam attack last week, which resulted in mail delays of up to four days, Telewest admitted that an underlying hardware failure was to blame for the extended delays in punters receiving email.

However, Telewest told The Register that next week's planned platform migration has nothing to do with the recent spam attacks.

Telewest will start moving its email service onto a new platform from midday next Tuesday (May 20). The move should be completed by 8pm the following day.

In an email to punters the cableco warned: "You will be able to send and receive emails, but from midnight on 20 May (Tuesday night) you may not be able to see old messages, however you will see them again before we finish.

Telewest also warned that from midnight on 20 May dial-up customers won't be able to hook up to the Net for a short time.

The cableco added: "We have experienced some issues with our existing platform over the last few weeks and we apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. The new platform will improve our ability to avoid such issues in the future. Also, we are focusing on additional measures to help reduce the possibility of delays for delivering your e-mail."

Fingers crossed, eh?

fascinating.

If existing shareholders do get anything from this restructure, I believe it will be calculated like this.

They will base current value of TWT on the average price of share: in the 10 days preceding agreement.
They will then calculate this against the Bondholders debt at par.

This should give existing holders a value of circa 2p.

After restructure there may be a slight premium, based on the more financially viable position the company will be in.

There may also be a 1 for 100 consolidation, as the amount of new shares in circulation would be a logistical nightmare for the company to manage.

whatif ..... not sure whether you are a holder or not but if you believe what you say - you should sell/leave them alone




ains

Anyone know what is up with a d v f n today?

Very wise advice ainsoph.

Unfortunately it comes some 18 months too late!

:-( ..... I think we will see a minimum 3% d4e and could be higher. Would exoect this to equate to a minimum 3/4p in the short term andmaybe as much as 10p in a rising market within say 12 months


ains


Outrage as Telewest cuts wages
By Tim Richardson
Posted: 16/05/2003 at 14:28 GMT


There's unrest at Telewest's Business Fault Centre in Peterborough after workers there were told that the cableco has decided to cut wages by around 1,100 a year.

Insiders angry at the decision have told The Register that the pay cut will take a sizeable chunk out of people's salaries.

As a result morale has plummeted since the 100 staff found out about the pay cut earlier this week. Many have already begun looking for other jobs.

Telewest says the pay cut has been introduced to bring the Peterborough Fault Centre in line with shift patterns at other Telewest centres around the country.

Workers remain sceptical, claiming that it's just a cheap shot to cut costs at the cableco.

A spokesperson for Telewest said the removal of shift allowances would affect around 60 staff but insisted that a new accreditation scheme would help "increase the earnings potential" for some staff.

ISP NEWS

Friday 16 May 2003, 11:02:16 AM
United Kingdom
Written by Sarah Brown
Broadband communications supplier to public and private sector markets - Telewest Business - has been chosen to provide additional high-speed communications to Education Bradford, following an extension to the contract announced in June 2002.


The schools in Bradford were originally connected via Telewest frame relay circuits at speeds of 64K, 128K and 2Mb and it was decided that if the district was to meet and even exceed the Government guidelines, higher bandwidths were necessary. This latest project worth 2.5 million over the next five years, sees Telewest Business providing 10Mb fibre connections with a network connection to a total of 200 schools in the Bradford area.


The network will enable access to a connection to the Internet and email, as well as web-based education resources. Telewest Business, also hosts the Education Bradford central servers. Tony Grace, Managing Director of Telewest Business, commented:


By introducing an effective, secure and high speed network into its schools, Education Bradford has shown that it is leading the way in this sector. We are pleased to have had the opportunity to further demonstrate our commitment to improving connectivity in schools through our involvement in this project.


The project also provides schools with links to a server farm, which is run and managed by Synetrix. This allows them to access any selected or requested software, which can then be run across the Telewest network.

Mobile phone firms to cut charges - for one day only
By Clayton Hirst
18 May 2003


Tough new rules designed to force mobile phone companies to slash call charges could be rendered useless, after the discovery of a loophole allowing operators to reduce prices for just one day.

Britain's four main mobile phone companies are expected to cut charges by 15 per cent on 24 July but put them up again the next day. This will make a mockery of a year-long Competition Commission investigation which found that consumers were paying too much when calling a mobile phone from a fixed line.

The revelation has angered fixed-line telecoms companies, which argued that Vodafone, Orange, mmO2 and T-Mobile charge them too much for receiving phone calls. The fixed operators pass on this cost to consumers though higher phone bills. A spokesman for BT said: "A reduction in the cost of calls to mobiles is something BT has consistently argued for." The average BT customer spends 13 a quarter calling mobiles.

Gavin Patterson, managing director of Telewest Broadband, said: "How on earth are consumers supposed to know what to believe when the whole fixed to mobile situation is such a muddle?"

The problem has been created by new European laws that will come into effect on 25 July. This will strip telecoms regulators of certain powers in the case of Britain's Oftel, its ability to enforce price cuts.

Brussels is also planning to introduce rules to force operators to cut termination charges. But Britain's mobile operators plan to lobby for these rules to be dropped.

A spokesman for T-Mobile said: "It's ironic we are having to look to Europe for the true nature of competition when Britain has the most competitive mobile market in Europe."

Headed by David Edmonds, Oftel is thought to be livid about the plans to cut call charges for just a day and may propose an amendment to the Communications Bill. A spokes- woman said: "We would expect operators to conform with the spirit of the Competition Com- mission recommendations."

interesting but not price moving


Council chosen to be a TV star May 19 2003




By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner


LOCAL government is coming to a TV near you.

Kirklees Council has been chosen as the leading local authority for DigiTV, the national project for Digital Interactive Television (DiTV), which will be launched at a national event in London on Thursday.

DigiTV is among the national projects being launched by the Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.

Lead partners in the bid are Kirklees, Somerset, Suffolk, Knowsley and Hillingdon.

The Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Health are involved in the project, as are private firms including hardware and middleware providers such as the BBC, NTL, Telewest and Sky.

The aim of the project is to demonstrate how DiTV can be used as a channel to deliver local government services, ranging from contacting councillors, arranging collection of bulky items from homes, through to details of what's on in an area and addressing community safety.

Work on starter kits will start next month and the project will be operational around January, 2004.

A DigiTV website will be live from Thursday.

Anyone who would like to know more about DiTV should contact Ricky Chopra, National DiTV Project Manager, DigiTV National Project, Kirklees Metropolitan Council, 1st Floor, High Street Buildings, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, HD1 2NQ.

Ring Mr Chopra on 01484 416230, email ricky.chopra@kirklees.gov.uk or see the website at www.DigiTV.org.uk

Digital TV subscribers to double by 2007

London, May 19 2003, (netimperative)



by Susie Harwood

The number of subscribers to digital pay-TV services in Western Europe is expected grow rapidly over the coming years according to new research by IDC.


The company forecasts that pay-TV subscribers will more than double to 49m by 2007, up from 24m this year.

The report reveals that satellite remains the dominant platform driving subscriber take-up, with cable and DSL showing insignificant challenges in most Western European countries.

IDC said that the UK, France and Spain have managed to achieve high levels of DTV subscriber take-up, but Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium are lagging behind.

TW launches online broadband 'shop'

London, May 20 2003, (netimperative)



by Chris Lake

Telewest Broadband has set up an online store for customers to order new cable broadband services, which now run at speeds of up to 2Mbps.


The company is pushing its blueyonder broadband internet, television and telephone services and is offering a 5 discount to those customers who order online.

Telewest said the discount reduces the connection charge for entry-level broadband internet to just 7.50, which it claims is the lowest price for high-speed internet access in the UK, although this is for existing Telewest customers with a set-top box already in place.

New customers that want access to the high-speed internet via a cable modem will see the connection charge reduced from 50 to 45. They are invited to conduct a postcode search to see if the Telewest network extends to their neighbourhood.

If this is not the case, Telewest suggests they visit NTL's website to check for cable broadband availability, in line with the marketing agreement that exists between the two cable operators.

Telewest and NTL are widely expected to merge at some stage after the refinancing of the former operator is completed, following NTL's successful debt-for-equity swap last year.

Ains,

Very annoying all TWT needs to do is break 2.17p/2.18p to break out IMHO.