UK arm survives One.Tel demise

NEWS Terminally troubled telco One.Tel confirmed today that there are many parties interested in buying its profitable UK arm. The Australian telco went into administration last month with debts estimated at £224m but the UK unit is still profitable and according to some reports could fetch as much as £61m. A spokeswoman for One.Tel said: "I can confirm we are in talks with a lot of interested buyers." However, she did not go as far as to confirm an article in the Financial Times, which claimed it is in advanced talks with Centrica and is expected to make an announcement in the next week. A Centrica spokesman also denied any knowledge of such discussions. Centrica looked to diversify last September by changing to a multi-utility by adding telecoms to its existing electricity and gas services. It already has 400,000 telecoms customers and has previously stated it aims to reach the one million mark by the end of the year.