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So siehts in GB aus: Telewest falls on box shortage, downgrade (Adds Pace comment) LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - British cable operator Telewest Communications Plc (LSE: TWT.L - news) said on Friday it had suspended marketing of its digital services due to a shortage in set-top box supplies. Pace Micro Technology Plc (LSE: PIC.L - news) , which supplies the boxes, said this was only a blip that was affecting many companies due to high demand for the flash memory that digital products use. "We have an agreement with Telewest to sort this out within a month," Pace marketing director Andrew Wallace said. Telewest shares had dropped earlier on Friday as analysts at HSBC Securities lowered their rating on the stock to "sell" from "hold" because of the problem, dealers said. The stock traded 9.7 percent lower at 233 pence at 1400 GMT, the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 (LSE: UKX.L - news) index. Flash memory, a key component in the boxes, mobile phones and other digital devices, has been in dwindling supply for around nine months due to a surge in demand. "In common with the rest of the cable industry, Telewest is experiencing short-term problems accessing sufficient set-top boxes to cope with demand from customers for our digital services," a spokesman said. "We are working with our supplier Pace to resolve this. They have assured us that normal supply will resume as quickly as possible. "In the meantime we have stopped actively marketing the service temporarily. We will resume full-scale marketing of digital as the supply of boxes improves." Cable rival NTL Inc said it was also affected but "not too seriously". "We are managing the situation with slightly reduced marketing," a spokeswoman said. Telewest, 90 percent of whose network is now ready for digital services, said customers could still sign up for analogue services and would be upgraded to digital once the bottleneck was resolved. It signed up some 156,000 customers in the first quarter of 2000 and industry sources said it had been on target for the first half. By year`s end Telewest hopes to have half a million digital subscribers. More Quotes and News: Pace Micro Technology PLC (London: PIC.L, News, Profile, Research) Telewest Communications PLC (London: TWT.L, News, Profile, Research) FTSE 100 (London: UKX.L, News) http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/000721/80/adr38.html Grüße Bandit |
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| aus der Diskussion: | Ladenhüter Metabox & Co...?! |
| Autor (Datum des Eintrages): | Bandit (24.07.00 08:56:16) |
| Beitrag: | 98 von 104 (ID:1390165) |
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