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NorthPoint shutters DSL
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March 29, 2001: 7:37 a.m. ET
Bankrupt service provider forced to unplug high-speed Internet service
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - NorthPoint Communications Inc., unable to raise much needed cash, has shut down its high-speed Internet service, leaving about 100,000 business customers without Internet access.
The move comes barely a week after AT&T Corp. agreed to pay $135 million for the assets of NorthPoint, which filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors early this year.
"Absent funding, NorthPoint is taking immediate steps to take down service," the company said in a statement Wednesday. "NorthPoint advises its customers to expect network outages and termination of DSL services immediately."
 Privately held NorthPoint urged customers left stranded without enough time to find alternate Internet service to contact their service providers directly for additional details about future service.
San Francisco-based NorthPoint filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January after Verizon Communications (VZ: Research, Estimates) decided in November 2000 not to take a 55 percent stake in the troubled company.
The company sells high-speed DSL Internet connections to about 100,000 businesses and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), which in turn sell them to businesses and consumers.
Basking Ridge, N.J.-based AT&T (T: Research, Estimates) has agreed to buy NorthPoint's physical assets, but not the customer contracts. In addition to DSL service, NorthPoint operates local and long-distance telephone networks and broadband networks.
AT&T shares slipped 87 cents to $22.07 in trading Wednesday.
-- from staff and wire reports 
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