Interoute snaps up bones of eBone

UK internet data carrier Interoute has bought the majority of bankrupt KPNQwest's eBone network.

The European network was closed down earlier this month after KPNQwest's trustees failed to find a buyer.

But the trustees have now sold most the bulk of eBone to Interoute for E15m, just two per cent of the E645m KPNQwest bought the network for earlier this year.

A spokesman for eBone said: "This is strange. The fibres of the eBone network are actually leased from other carriers, not owned by eBone itself. Our main asset was our customer base which was destroyed when the trustees switched us off. The main asset of KPNQwest's own network - that it had before it bought us this year - was the fact that it owned the fibres.

"I wouldn't be sure that the eBone equipment is worth as much as E15m as there is a glut of hardware on the market at the moment."

The rest of KPNQwest's network is now left to be picked at by its parent company KPN and Swedish telco, Telia.

KPNQwest's trustees have already rejected KPN's first bid of E20m for parts of the network, including sections of cable in France, Germany and Italy which were acquired by Telia last week.

Interoute will integrate the 18km long eBone network, which consists of eight metropolitan area networks (MANs), to its current offering of eight MAN rings connecting 45 cities in nine European countries.