KPNQwest network to be shut in days

AMSTERDAM: The liquidators of bankrupt Dutch telecoms group KPNQwest said on
Friday they would be forced to shut down Europe's largest data network in days
after a court ruled against them in a dispute with its lender banks.

"It (the shutdown) will be within a matter of days," KPNQwest
administrator Ed Meijer told Reuters late on Friday. The shutdown could
jeopardize crucial online functions for the company's 100,000 European business
clients who rely on it for business from e-mail transmissions to Web access.

The administrators had sought to force the banks to turn over money collected
from KPNQwest's clients to keep the network running as they seek to sell it and
to give customers more time to find alternative providers.

US telecoms giant AT&T was among two companies close to making an offer
for KPNQwest's network, Meijer said. "Certainly two of them are very close
to making a final offer," he said. Asked if AT&T was one of them, he
said: "Absolutely."

(C) Reuters Limited.