One.Tel's administrators are negotiating a deal to restructure the junior telco's Australian mobile operations.
However, the rescue plan has been put at risk by Optus's decision to withdraw One.Tel's network coverage.
In a shock move, Cable & Wireless Optus said it was forced by One.Tel's insolvency to end a commercial relationship which involved on-selling the Optus Mobile Network to thousands of One.Tel customers.
One.Tel administrators Ferrier Hodgson said the Optus move was a "commercial raid" and would jeopardise the ongoing activities of One.Tel but Optus defended its move.
"Because of One.Tel's inability to pay us for use of our network services, Optus has no option but to cease supply," Optus Managing Director, Mobiles, Paul O'Sullivan said.
"However, we do not want to cease supply to the users of those services, One.Tel customers'" he said.
The Optus pull-out will leave the telco without a crucial part of its customer base. The move is seen as a blow to the administrators, who earlier this week said the telco would continue doing "business as usual". They have since referred the matter to the competition watchdog.
Australia's second largest telco is contacting the estimated 250,000 One.Tel mobile users via SMS (Short Message Service), telephone and fax, asking them if they still wished to remain connected and continue to use their existing mobile numbers.
"That is why we are making the offer to continue service to the customers but we need to confirm with them in the next week what arrangement they would like to make," O'Sullivan said.
Meanwhile, the administrators have commenced a review of the company's international operations to determine the implications of the collapse. Those operations are based in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, France, Germany and Hong Kong.
One.Tel has around one million customers in Australia and 1.6 million internationally.
Reuters contributed to this story.
