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

Ainsoph a copy of a post on both advfn and the 3i site below.

By the way on the advfn site various people have started to impersonate you, therefore I have posted a comment on the TAG thread there to inform people that they should ignore "virtual" "new" ainsops and contact you via the TAG website or email on the thread header for direct TAG info. I also indicated you were not posting there at present

cut and paste below

The latest position with twt is encouraging and shows signs of moving to a conclusion where we can at least be moderately confident (geopolitical risks aside) twt will survive, and with us on board albeit in a much reduced capacity.

I had always said that this twt deal was the best of a bad job (debt for equity) and I still get angry when I think of all the (quite frankly) downright "disinformation" received from certain official quarters. However life moves on and the world today is a very different place from that of the year 2000/2001. Providing the debt for equity deal continues to progress/complete and Telewest continues to survive the TAG's role will come to an end. We came into existence to prevent an Energis style collapse emanating from the debt for equity and to date that has been averted. We will remain around until the process is complete.

It will be, sad to relate, a long long time before some of us re-coop our initial investment, indeed as one poster commented a year or so ago we may well have to hand our shares on to our grandchildren before the "real" value reaches the equivalent of 1 again.

However short of completely unknown events I believe we have avoided administration. Thats a start. Another milestone will be reached when we can all make a decision to cash our twt shares for a reasonable equity stake to invest elsewhere (if that is our wish) In my case that milestone is about 12p or so.

I will continue to look in here occasionally and will post as and when real news develops.

The TAG will be wound up/I will resign at the conclusion of the debt for equity deal. Best wishes for the future

Paul

Hi Paul ..... your post prompted several people to mail me privately asking where they could find me for the future and I have pointed them in the obvious direction of the website and here ..... I do occasionly post on iii and TMF .... and even HS when the occasion warrants.

The opening post covers my current situation - I hold maybe a million shares + and have a chunk of profits from trading that I am looking to reinvest/speculate. I was hoping for sub 2p in a dip but have raised the target to sub 2.4p.


ains


latest news

Telewest Foreshadows NTL Merger


By Mike Farrell
Multichannel News
2/17/2003



The complete text of this article is available only to subscribers.

Abstract: Telewest Communications plc, the United Kingdom's second-biggest cable operator, said it would reach cash-flow positive status by the end of this year six months earlier than originally expected and said that a merger with NTL Inc., the No. 1 U.K. MSO, could happen in 2004. Talking to Dow Jones Newswires in London last week, Telewest managing director Charles Burdick said an ear...

February 16, 2003

Broadband shines amid the telecoms gloom
The number of homes and firms with high-speed internet access is 1.5m and rising, says Paul Durman of the S Times



The cable-television companies, NTL and Telewest, also offer broadband, although a different variety known as cable modem. Between them, the cable companies have about 800,000 broadband customers. After a slow start, Britain now has nearly 1.5m homes and small businesses with broadband facilities.

Browsing websites using a broadband connection is a much quicker and more pleasant experience than with a traditional dial-up connection. It is less frustrating, and users are inclined to spend more time on the internet.

Gavin Patterson, managing director of Telewests consumer division, says: People are just doing more of what they did before. Time online is about four times what it was in the dial-up world. Some people are spending more time online than theyre spending on TV. Theres more chat, theres more e-mailing, more photography, more web-browsing. And it is made for the adult market.

The 10 most popular websites among Telewests Blueyonder broadband customers include seven that offer adult entertainment.


full story @ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2095-578757,00.html

There is an encouraging article in todays Sunday Times business section about broadband growth. Telewest are mentioned favourably. It was also quite amusing to note that Telewest commented that out of their 10 most popular websites, 7 were of an "adult nature"...........

I always said the two things that are guarenteed to make money on the net is sex and money..:)

NETIMPERATIVE COMMENT: Sky should fear the cable guys

14/February/2003

Latest figures from Oftel, BT, and a statement by Telewest CEO Charles Burdick all point to one thing - cable is on the move. After a couple of years of financial hell, both NTL and Telewest are at last preparing for their long-expected merger and it seems there can be only one loser, young Sky.


As BT unveiled yesterday, it claims more than 50% of the ADSL broadband market with an estimated 350,000 users signed up under either BT Retail or the fast disappearing BTopenworld in a total market of 680,000 ADSL users. A strategy of determined stubbornness towards local loop unbundling, among other things, has left it in prime position and with few competitors.

However, the real success story is cable broadband. Oftel says there are 769,000 end users of cable broadband services and that's before Telewest reports its new figures very soon. Combined, NTL and Telewest are available to 13.3m homes, the vast bulk of which can access broadband services if they so choose. And the likelihood is, that so choose they will.

It has long been thought that if only the two cable sisters could address their ugly, nay monstrous debts, they ought to be able to press home a distinct advantage - the potential for users to put their TV, phone and internet access costs onto one bill and with one supplier. BT and Sky, spotting the threat, have spent the past two years seeking ways of joining forces to offer an all-in-one style package of their own, but a true fit has been impossible.

Thus, especially as broadband interest snowballs, consumers are finding that cable is by far the simplest option - costs are somewhat more manageable too. For BT, safe as houses in its monopoly world of phone line exchanges, this is an irritance but barely a real bother. It has always known that its only option was to do what it could to hang on to the local exchanges for as long as possible and exercise its marketing power to make its ADSL package the most obvious.

For Sky, on the other hand, the likely dominance of cable puts an almighty spanner in the works. While Sky Digital - on which it has done a fantastic job - has been the most viable option for iTV users, it could claim dominance of both content and delivery. As cable becomes more populated, it will gradually be left with only its (costly) content and, as the balance of power shifts, you can bet the cable companies will want to press their advantage when it comes to content negotiations.

Even worse for the satellite kings is that, once Telewest is able to clear its debt with the banks - as it surely will - it is clear to at last join forces properly with its estranged cable partner and, together, they pose a significant power. The geographical overlap of the Telewest and NTL networks is negligible enough to keep integration costs - and interference from the Competition Commission - to a minimum and their combined promotional budgets will be the subject of much adland attention.

Charles Burdick says Telewest could be cash-flow positive by the end of this year. With its whopping interest payments removed under its financial restructuring, it should be a good deal more than that. And once it is, a ball Sky would rather remained flat will indeed start rolling.

ainsoph

Thanks for posting the above. That is the most bullish commentary on TWT's operational prospects I have seen. Perhaps there are real chances of the 3 to 4p we expect to see (on confirmation of restructuring) growing significantly in the next year or two.

I think there is every chance jaffa ...... My guess currently is maybe 5p - on the assumption of a deal that is acceptable. That would equate to an old share price of say 150p. Talk of a merger and/or good figues from the company at that time will easily support this kind of price. I do not see the bondholders selling out in the near future after the d4e



ains

Telewest looking into 606 Interactive problem
18:01 GMT, Monday 17th February 2003 -- by James Welsh
Telewest is looking into fixing problems experienced on its digital cable service with the BBC's 606 Interactive service "as a matter of urgency", the cable operator told Digital Spy today.

Word has seeped out that angry NTL customers, whom are opposed to the operators recent bandwidth cap on broadband services, are to gather outside this weeks Internet Industry Awards in London:

Those behind the direct action are hoping that a demo outside the event will help raise public awareness while causing maximum embarrassment to the cableco.

Users had hoped that a wave of protests planned for Valentine's Day would help make NTL reconsider its decision to cap broadband use to 1Gb a day. At this stage, it's still not known whether the protests - including the threat of mass disconnections from the service - materialised to any great degree.

The Register notes that an online petition against the cap has now garnered some 2,700 digital signatures.

morning ains - TWT quiet again today.

very much so jeetha ....

recently average daily volumes have been close to 12 million but yesterday we had 2.5 million and just 578K this morning ..... I have them on alert and will be interested if there is a dip


ains

Tuesday 18th February 2003


Broadband UK Internet connections reach one in ten
[Computer Buyer] 12:32

The Office of National Statistics has covered the month of December 2002 in its latest monthly report on UK Internet connectivity.
The headline figure is that the total number of subscriptions for access to the Internet actually fell - month on month - by 1.1 per cent. This is attributed to seasonal factors involving the Christmas holiday. On a yearly basis, however, Internet connectivity grew 7.4 per cent compared with December 2001.

Of more interest is the statistic that 10.1 per cent of subscriptions to the Internet now involve fast dedicated access (broadband or fixed lines). The Office of National Statistics reports that the yearly growth for permanent connections was 262.7 per cent, with an increase of 7.3 per cent from November to December 2002.

By contrast, the relative decline of dial-up connections - which include ISDN - has continued. The figure for December 2002 stands at 89.9 per cent, down from the 97 per cent of all subscriptions in December 2001.

Make no mistake, however - this is not to say that one in ten people now enjoy broadband. The official figures relate to the nature of Internet subscriptions. Nevertheless, the stats provide a useful and consistent indication of the take up of broadband.

Alun Williams

Volumes were 3.6 mill yesterday - which is about a third of the current daily average - 430K in two hours today but shares still holding up with sets a little uninspiring .... still have cash to spend

ains



BSkyB is leading the way in the media industry, being one of the few media companies tipped to be upgraded, after Moodys raised its outlook of its long-term debt rating from stable to positive, says The Financial Times.

relatively quiet again this morning with just a million traded - aa always sets determines the pace


ains


NTL Insults Customers Over DL Cap

By:mark.j @ 9:49:AM - News Comments - SendNews [HERE] / PrintNews [HERE]NTLs reason for not informing its broadband cable modem service customers of the new download limit was because it didn't think they were intelligent enough to understand it!:

So says Kingsley Smith, the campaigner behind the Don't Pay NTL, who met Bill Goodland, NTL's Internet director, and Steve Upton (Technical/Network Manager) in Hook yesterday to discuss the cableco's decision to cap its broadband service.

According to Mr Smith, the decision to cap the service was taken by Mr Goodland. And it was he who decided not to tell customers because he "didn't think they were 'Tech' enough to understand".

So exactly how technologically minded do you have to be to understand a 1GB daily download limit? More @ The Register.

a million sell at 235 away from sets

Telewest in ad deal with Real Media

London, February 20 2003, (netimperative)



by Richard Agnew

Telewest has extended its deal to use interactive marketing firm Real Media's software for serving adverts delivered to its digital TV subscribers.


The cable operator has been using Real's Open AdStream platform, which allows broadband providers and web publishers to manage advertising revenues, since 2000.

Director of e-commerce and interactive services at Telewest Chris Townsend said: "Open AdStream's delivery and scalability are critical attributes as we continue our digital television platform development."

UK cable counterpart NTL also uses the platform.

Barely a crowd, yet apparently half a dozen NTL customers gathered outside of yesterdays ISPA awards event in London.

Not surprisingly they weren't there to support their provider, instead a demonstration was held against the operator because of its recent broadband usage cap:

The plucky group of protesters was barred from entering the hotel but instead targeted those people turning up to the glitzy event by handing out leaflets condemning the cableco's move.

One of the protesters braving the cold night told The Register: "We will not give up our fight."

It's hoped that the protest group will soon be able to present a petition of nearly 3,900 signatures to both NTL and the Government's e-minister. We salute all those involved. More @ The Register.

ains,

Trialing L2 at the mo, is there a good site where I can look up queries... I'm trying to check that my understanding so is correct.

Cheers.

not come across one but help is usually good in terms of technical queries - lots go on one day courses to get a feel

Fri 21 February 2003 12:28PM GMT

Telewest scoops Slough Council voice comms deal
Where next? Reading, Aldershot, Bracknell... Didcot, Yateley...



Slough Borough Council has stripped out its heterogeneous voice communications infrastructure and replaced it with a single system from Telewest Business in a bid to cut costs and ease the management overhead.


The council is replacing its old telephone system with Telewest's Centrex Virtual Private Network (VPN) service, which will provide it with advanced telephony services, hosted and managed by Telewest's digital exchange.


Sue Harling, head of IS and IT director for Slough Borough Council, said that some of the savings will come from lower circuit rental and call costs - the organisation will not be billed for internal calls, even if they are made between different council buildings in the borough.


The council has nearly 1,600 extensions, and new ones can be put in place during the contract period without any additional capital cost.


Harling added: "The new service provides comprehensive management and accounting information analysis and data including the reporting on performance indicators."


Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Graham Hayday