The last remaining employees of KPNQwest have walked out, leaving a vast chunk of communications infrastructure running on auto-pilot. Workers did not follow through on their threat to shut the operation down, but now if anything breaks, it simply won't get fixed.

How long it will last is purely a matter of fortune, both technological and financial. If the company is bought before nature brings it down, then customers may escape fatal interruptions, which is more than we can say for the company's shareholders and workers.

Rumours of the bankrupt company's imminent purchase at firesale prices are still being floated by its officers, though some of what it possesses is already in the hands of receivers in several countries, which no doubt makes that a bit complicated. ®