Ebone not connected to anything

Ebone yesterday pulled the plug on one of Europe's largest networks.

Administrators rejected last minute bids for the network because the price was too low, according to those close to the proceedings.

Graham Kinsey, voluntary spokesman for Ebone, said: "What can we say? The investors wanted to buy Ebone, the banks didn't want to sell. The banks could have sold the entire, live network. They chose not to.

"One of the banks was foolish enough to take that decision and cut their own connection which ran over the Ebone network."

Between 6 June and 2 July, 40 Ebone employees, including Kinsey, had barricaded themselves into the network operations centre in Hoeilaart, Belgium to keep the network alive voluntarily and give customers more time to find an alternative provider.

But the ex-employees vacated the building yesterday as the administrators moved in to start selling off the equipment.

A last minute offer of €15m came from Peter Wilkinson, the co-founder of Freeserve, but administrators, looking for €45m, rejected the offer.

It is still unclear how much European traffic will be affected by the shutdown.

The Ebone network carries around 25 per cent of European traffic and engineers, who until recently worked in the Belgian centre, said that some companies which rely on Ebone for their internet services would definitely go out of business.

Kinsey has already said that European companies can expect the shutdown to have an impact on services, and has described the small group of voluntary workers as "heroes" for standing their ground over the last month.

"Anyone who has stood by us in this struggle, hold you head high. We have been strong, committed and determined. We are a credit to the memory of Ebone. We are heroes," he said.