Hutchison Australia ends Vodafone talks on Optus bid

SYDNEY (AFX) - Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Ltd said it has terminated its agreement of negotiations with Vodafone Pacific Ltd following the announcement by Vodafone of its withdrawal from the Cable & Wireless Optus Ltd sale process.	    In a statement, Hutchison managing director Barry Roberts-Thomson said that while the company was optimistic about the potential surrounding the proposed agreement with Vodafone, the company always considered the agreement to be a "purely speculative" opportunity.	    "Our strategy remains unchanged -- we are very committed to developing our Orange One business and Hutchison is on-track to be an early entrant in the delivery of third generation services in Australia which we believe will create the next wave of growth in mobile telecommunications," Roberts-Thomson said.	    At 11:58 am, Hutchison Australia was down 0.11 aud or 11.22 pct at 0.87. Optus was down 0.13 at 3.86.	    The S&P/ASX 200 was up 12.6 points at 3,157.9. 

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