AMSTERDAM — KPNQwest, which in March said it would survive as rival Internet suppliers collapsed, may start shutting down Europe's largest fiber-optic network as soon as Monday night.
KPNQwest was declared insolvent last month and doesn't have enough money to keep its network going. Rivals such as Cable & Wireless Plc and Telefonica SA may have their pick of KPNQwest's assets, analysts said. AT&T Corp., the biggest U.S. long-distance company, may buy some properties, KPNQwest has said.
"Many people — including me — weren't expecting KPNQwest to go down," said Jankees Ruizeveld, who helps oversee about $52 billion at Robeco Groep in Rotterdam. The remaining questions are "who is getting which assets and who is getting which customers," he said.
KPNQwest's client list includes AOL Time Warner Inc., ABN Amro Holding NV and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Spokespeople for all three said they were confident they'd find another service provider. Colt Telecom Group Plc and Level 3 Communications Inc. are among KPNQwest's rivals that are benefiting from the Dutch company's collapse.
Colt, which provides voice and data services to businesses in 13 European countries, last week signed an agreement to provide services to clients of KPN, which uses KPNQwest's network outside the Netherlands.
Level 3 has won an average of $1 million in new business a day for the past two weeks, mostly from KPNQwest clients, spokesman Mark Broughton said in an interview.
"We know it's from their clients," Broughton said. "And there's more to come."
Global Crossing is also going after KPNQwest customers, while a unit of BT Group Plc has been contacted by "a number" of clients.
Shares of KPNQwest, based in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, rose 1 cent to 7 cents, valuing the company at 32 million euros ($30.1 million). The company's market capitalization peaked at 42.8 billion euros in February 2000.
KPNQwest's trustees, appointed under Dutch law to find ways to repay the company's 1.8 billion euros of debt, last week asked customers to pay bills to keep the network going this month.
KPNQwest was formed in 1999 by Royal KPN NV, the Netherlands former phone monopoly, and Denver-based Qwest Communications International Inc. It sold 44 million shares at 20 euros each in November that year to investors confident that expanding Internet use would increase demand for fiber-optic communication