Comments on: A Qwest for survival

Phone company's CEO says new partnerships are intended to help it fill holes in its business, develop its wireless service.
Qwest in talks with Verizon about wireless deal

[Source00]

Wow... if only they stayed the course...

As a former employee (I had a low level position but with some high level exposure), this article gives me pleasure to no end... the discussion on how Qwest is going to get into the wireless game, how it will integrate their wireline and wireless services and the nature of their partnerships. All of this is ground that was covered back in 1998/1999 and investors have Mr. Joe Naccio and his tiny vision (obscured by his giant ego) to thank for screwing that up royally.

Qwest Wireless (then US West and US West Wireless) was building out a best of breed wireless network following a "make it the best network in the market" strategy (every market they had wireless network in, they dominated market share and had the best coverage and capacity by far), starting in their wireline 14 state region and then growing from there. Network buildouts were gaining in efficiency and had capabilities INCLUDING broadband (2.5 and 3G speed) wireless data (using CDMA technologies) baked in. They also had a very close and positive relationship/partnership with the network infrastructure providers... so they got access to emerging technologies that the other networks simply didn't bother with (e.g. Wireless data, Wireless E 911, Location based services, Wireline integration, Wireless local loop services, etc.). Back then, the vision was convergence of services and Qwest's current consumer offering is a mere echo of the capability they had when they held their wireless assets (that strategy was basically moving all the consumer voice traffic off the copper network to free up the bandwidth for video and data over copper).

The new leadership needs to swallow their pride and look backward in order to move forward. The "I wasn't here when that happened" excuse just doesn't cut it. They need to learn what IP, people, knowledge, etc. it already has in house or nearby to formulate a truly innovative strategy, not just make minor improvements to duct tape and bailing wire crap bundles they are dishing out today. Peter Mannetti (Former president of US West Wireless) is still in Denver and I am confidant Sol Trujillo (President & CEO of US West at that time) could even be lured back to renew this once great company to its former grandeur. Granted it?s a very different company these days (US West was very profitable and flush with cash before Qwest sucked it dry) but these are two leaders who knew what they were doing and were executing on a vision... That vision was clipped short by the greed of an antsy board and a bombastic jackass convict named Joe. Maybe they would be willing to help bring some of that magic back.

The US wireless market is retarded at least... and in some cases seems like it's going backwards. We need a (renewed) champion of emerging technology, not just another crappy reseller who is following the herd. Take a look at Europe and the Pacific Rim countries and try to tell me we are leading this charge in any way shape or form... that needs to change. US West/Qwest used to be that company... maybe it could be again.

[nataliepodkaminer]

this is a great article

this is a great article

[nataliepodkaminer]

reply to this is great

reply to this is great

[nataliepodkaminer]

replying to my own comment?

is this allowed

[nataliepodkaminer]

this is a great article

this is a great article

[jshuffie]

Nice article, but there are other survival options

For starters, it is one thing to have a tag line exhorting customer service, it's another to put actual customer service into practice.
I found this article while searching for a way to communicate with Qwest management. Qwest has done a good job of building a firewall between management and customers.
My family has been loyal Qwest customers for over a decade. Recently, my daughter dropped her phone in a bucket of water. Trying to reach a workable solution with Qwest customer service has been frustrating at best. Now, after all these years of loyalty, we are considering another service provider. Qwest, you need to give your customers a reason to brag about your customer service, develop some flexibility instead of rigidity, and create a communication path to your management team. Your survival depends on it.