Dutch operator KPN has announced the sale of 4.4% of its KPNQWEST subsidiary for the sum of EUR 101 million. Buyers are the joint-shareholder, American operator QWEST, that will increase its current stake of 44% to 47.5% on this occasion, thus taking over control of the group, and ANSCHUTZ CO, the main QWEST shareholder. The agreement provides for IPN to sell the remaining 40% that it still owns. QWEST holds share options for holding all or part of this stake in March 2002. Then KPN will be able to sell to a third party or place the shares on the market. In parallel, KPN has bought up the international operator GTS for the sum of EUR 645 million. The acquisition gives rise to the second largest European actor on the data transmission market, with a combined turnover KPNQWEST/GTS reaching EUR 1.3 billion in 2002 and a combined number of employees reaching around 4000.