OPTUS is rushing to transfer some 50,000 free Australian webmail accounts from the US as debt-ridden company Excite threatens to switch off its network.
After buying out its joint cable internet venture with Excite@Home in September, Optus gained the rights to Excite's free webmail service.
However the transition of the Excite.com.au mail accounts from Excite's US servers to Optus' infrastructure has not been carried out, and Optus is concerned the accounts may be lost if they are not transferred within the next 24 hours.
Excite@Home's administrators said they would shut down the network as the leading bid for the company, from AT&T, was not enough to repay the debts.
A source close to Optus told Australian IT that technical staff were now racing to move the mail accounts onto Optus servers in case the administrators went ahead with their decision to shut down Excite on Saturday.
News source: Australian IT
