dingo blue will be no more. AGL, owner of the service provider, informed its employees Thursday morning that it will be shutting down dingo blue's operations.

In a statement posted to its Web site dingo blue wrote: "It gives us no pleasure in telling you this - but dingo blue will soon be closing down its business operations for good. It is expected this will take at least eight weeks."

According to the statement, dingo blue "will endeavour to ensure its services will continue uninterrupted throughout the closing down process". dingo blue expects to continue operating for at least eight weeks, but in any event will close before 30 June 2002. During this close down period, all 170 staff at dingo blue will receive their full entitlements and all financial obligations to suppliers and contractors will be met, the company said.

The company says it will provide its 68,000 customers with updates on the closure via email and letters, and has also set up an information line: 1300 301 455 for those who wish to make further enquiries.

According to dingo blue's media statement, the decision to close its operations followed a review of the company's business performance since it was acquired by AGL from Optus in December 2000.dingo blue says it is has commenced negotiations with other parties and hopes to have its customers serviced by another network provider "in the near future".

Meanwhile, rival service providers are set to have a field day. ISP ihug has already started its campaign to woo over dingo blue customers. Today it posted a banner advertisement on its homepage offering dingo blue customers three months of free access if they sign up with ihug.