KPNQwest assets snapped up

KPNQwest's parent company Royal KPN has put in a large bid for the majority of the bankrupt telco's European network, while Nordic telco Telia has already snapped up some of its French assets.

KPN is rumoured to have bid E20m (£12m) for most of KPNQwest's European assets excluding the now dead eBone network, although the company refused to confirm the price.

A spokesman said: "We have said before that we are interested in several parts of KPNQwest's network and now we have put in bids on those areas."

However, Serafino Abate, senior networks analyst at Ovum, said: "I'm surprised at this bid from KPN. It is not one of the best performing incumbents in Europe. It's never been strong on international services and it's already running on very thin revenue streams. This is quite a dangerous move and could lead to its closure."

When asked whether the purchase of KPNQwest's assets would be a waste of money for KPN, the spokesman said: "That depends on what we will pay for the assets. We think that keeping our customers on the same network is a smart thing to do."

Telia paid KPNQwest's administrators a bargain E3m (£1.93m) for assets of one of KPNQwest's French subsidiaries, which will be used to expand its Viking Network within France and Italy.

Ovums' Abate said: "This is a good idea for Telia. So far the company has been very good at positioning itself in international networks but its weak point has been a lack of infrastructure in Europe.

"The risk we are running here is that with the demise of KPNQwest and WorldCom, we are left with less competition in the carrier market within Europe," he added.