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America’s third largest local telephone carrier, Qwest Communications, recently
held talks with larger counterpart, AT&T Inc., which offers wireless services,
about a partnership in the mobile phone market.
Several companies including AT&T and Verizon Communications have expressed
interest in a deal with Qwest, which is thinking of dumping its current wireless
partner of four years, Sprint Nextel, according to the landline carrier’s Chief
Executive Officer, Edward Mueller.
Qwest is looking for a partner that can give its customers access to highspeed
wireless internet services and advanced mobile phones, such as the popular Apple
iPhone device.
“The iPhone’s kind of a leader,” Mueller said in an interview this week. “It’s
almost like carrying your own laptop, with full functionality and a real cool
device that gives you everything you would get if we were sitting here plugged
in.”
Mueller says he’s also been speaking with Dan Hesse, the CEO of struggling
wireless carrier, Sprint Nextel. The current agreement between the two companies
expires 11 months from now, and Qwest has not ruled out renewing it. All 824,000
of Qwest’s current wireless subscribers are ultimately served by Sprint, making
up about 1.5% of Sprint’s user base.
“My problem is more about us, not Sprint. We brand under Qwest. It’s not a
Sprint issue,” Mueller said when asked about his willingness to replace the
current agreement. “Dan and I didn’t talk about having a problem with Sprint or
the Sprint network being bad. Our conversation was more about, ‘OK, he’s new,
I’m new. Is it possible to get something done?’”
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Source: http://www.teleclick.ca/2008/03/qwestconsidersreplacingsprintnextelwirelesscontracttalkstoatt/
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