Charter today said it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The anticipated move will see the cable and Internet provider restructure itself under a plan that it had already established ahead of the actual filing to recover its operations. Under the efforts, Charter expects to eliminate about $8 billion of debt and won't require that debtors finance the company to keep it running. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen will also maintain his stake in the company.

The telecoms firm takes the steps after several consecutive quarterly losses that culminated in a $1.5 billion loss at the end of 2008. The company has been one of the smaller competitors in the market and was particularly hard-hit by the US economic crash.

Charter hasn't said when it expects to come out of bankruptcy but expects to keep running its existing service and to keep its usual payment for employees.