AT&T Pulls KPNQwest Bid at 11th Hour

AT&T Friday pulled its bid to acquire
failing pan-European telecom network KPNQwest at the
11th hour, according to reports.

KPNQwest, founded in 1998 as a joint venture between
KPN and Qwest Communications International, provides
Internet connections to nearly 100,000 businesses
across Europe. But the future of the data services
provider has been in doubt since it filed for
bankruptcy protection last month, and it has said it
would run out of cash Friday.

AT&T had been considered the forerunner in bidding for
the ailing communications giant, but it pulled out
Friday after determining it did not have sufficient
time to complete due diligence before the Friday
deadline, according to reports. AT&T had been looking
at the KPNQwest assets as a way of extending its
global communications network following the failure
of Concert, its joint venture with British
counterpart BT.

KPNQwest has reportedly received several alternative
nonbinding offers for its network, and as many as 40
offers for pieces of the network.