IDT will bid for bankrupt Global Crossing

By Carlise Newman

Chicago, Feb. 25 - Long-distance telecommunications company IDT Corp. announced it will bid today for the assets of bankrupt Global Crossing Ltd., saying national security could be compromised by the current plan for investors in Hong Kong and Singapore to take over the fiber-optic carrier.

IDT said its bid will at least match the economics and be more viable than the $255 million all-stock bid submitted last August by the Hong Kong-based conglomerate Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd and state-controlled Singapore Technology Pte Ltd. Federal regulators have not yet signed off on that sale.

IDT previously bought telecom providers Winstar and Teligent.

"Would we give the keys to the Justice Department buildings or the board rooms of some of our largest corporations to a foreign government so they could listen in? Absolutely not. The idea is absurd. Yet a foreign telecommunications company based in communist-controlled China, is asking our government for control of Global Crossing, which would give them access to some of our government's and major corporations' most sensitive phone conversations," said Howard Jonas, IDT chairman, in a news release.

"We do not want to see this happen. An IDT purchase of Global Crossing would be good for Global Crossing management and employees, good for IDT and our shareholders and good for our nation's economy and national security."

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