Upstart fibre-optic network builders Global Crossing yesterday hit back at a rival firm's $55 billion bid to steal its two proposed golden geese.

On Friday US telecommunications firm Qwest tried to snatch US West and Frontier from underneath Global Crossing's nose by offering several billion dollars more in cash and equities than the Bermuda-based firm did last month.

Qwest offered $78 a share in stock for US West and $73 a share in cash and stock for Frontier with a $2 a share sweetener for each if both companies agreed to the deal.

That was higher than Global Crossing's offer to pay about $63 a share in stock for both US West and Frontier in separate deals announced in May which would give the new Global Crossing Inc. market capitalisation of $75 billion.

Despite the aggressive effort by Denver-based Qwest to intensify the race to dominate the industry, its shares fell by 20 per cent within hours of the New York stock market opening on Monday.

The sharp drop deflated Qwest's offer and was perhaps not surprising since Qwest's bid would also see the company assume $11.4 billion in debt.

Executives at Global Crossing remained tight-lipped about their rival's war-like corporate tactics on Monday.

Yesterday they issued a terse but optimistic statement from CEO Robert Annunziata to reassure investors.

He said: "We expect US West's $62.75 per share tender offer for approximately 39 million Global Crossing shares to close as scheduled this Friday.

"Our existing US West merger agreement is superior to Qwest's offer and we fully expect to close it as planned next year.

"Our existing Frontier merger agreement is also superior to Qwest's offer and we expect to close it as planned in the third quarter of the year.'' Both Qwest and Global Crossing would obviously benefit enormously from access to US West and Frontier's 31 million customers.

That would perfectly complement Global Crossing's planned fibre-optic network which will span four continents and address 80 per cent of the world's international traffic.

The take-overs would provide the one vital ingredient largely missing from Global Crossing's planned high-speed, advanced global networks for data, voice, video and Internet transmissions -- users.

Both companies are trying to build the fastest networks and thereby attract the most customers.

This force driving several recent billion-dollar telecommunications deals has prompted some analysts to compare this industry at the end of the 1990s, with the race to build railroads across the US at the end of the 1800s.