Engineers have begun shutting down a 10,000-kilometre fibre-optic network belonging to bankrupt Dutch-US company KPNQwest after no buyer could be found for it.

The Ebone network mostly comprises rings around west European cities. It forms more than one third of KPNQwest's total fibre-optic capacity.

There had been fears that the company's bankruptcy would lead to slower internet connections in Europe but most of KPNQwest's customers have switched service providers or are using parts of the network now being operated by other telecoms firms.

Deutsche Telekom said it would not be affected by the Ebone shutdown.

Country rings in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and the connection from Paris to London are parts of KPNQwest's network that are being kept operational.

KPNQwest's shares have collapsed in value and are now worth about 10 euro cents.