media release April 24, 2000

Figures for end of March 2001 quarter are as follows:

"We are a start-up business with Orange One and have built an incredible network to support this unique service. In the 9 months since we launched our Orange One marketing campaign, we have learned a great deal and gained some strong insights. Our CDMA network is performing extremely well and we are proud of our achievement," said Barry Roberts-Thomson, CEO of Hutchison Telecoms Australia.

"We are excited to have reached the point of over 100,000 subscribers and are pleased to learn of customers who are now experiencing the many benefits of Orange One. A warm congratulations to Park Lane Fashions in Alexandria who came on board in March and who is our 100,000th Orange One customer," said Mr Roberts-Thomson.

"We are finding Orange One to be a fantastic solution for us. We particularly like the concept of LocalZone and find it very cost effective," said Alan Levin, Managing Director of Park Lane Fashions.

"We designated our office the LocalZone which works really well. We're fortunate in that our local calling area actually extends several blocks so Orange One is a great solution for us. We bought Orange One because of the LocalZone concept, the call quality and the international rates to China. Our colleagues in China are also pleased we've moved to Orange One as they say it is easier to contact us in Australia using the local number rather than our former mobile numbers.

"We're on a range of plans that best suit our needs," said Mr Levin.

Commenting further, Mr Roberts-Thomson said: "We have grown to better understand the needs and requirements of our customers since our launch. In the next couple of months some new and exciting marketing initiatives will be put in place that take on board what we have learned to really drive our subscriber numbers forward. January was a very slow month for us and in our reseller business we don't have a prepaid product to offer, which had a negative impact in that area. The total subscriber base, which includes Orange One and Mobile Resale as well as Paging and Messaging and Value Added Services, was however quite good at 491,314 subscribers at March 31, up from 470,516 at December 31, an increase of 4.4%. "

ends

media contact
Trisha Fox, Public Affairs Manager, Orange
(02) 8902 3250

Orange products and services are provided in Australia by Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Ltd.