"Ron" <ronclifford@peoplepc.com> wrote in message
news:q49v14dt80v3mupn9omtbkgogflokpshjb@4ax.com...
>
> Qwest will switch from Sprint to Verizon for selling Cellular to its
> customers
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/2008...pcworld/145503

Sort of. Currently Qwest sells "Qwest Wireless" to it's customers, not
Sprint. Qwest just happens to be a Sprint MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network
Operator) like, for example, Virgin Mobile is. Qwest buys airtime at
wholesale from Sprint but in all other respects, is just like a cellular
company themselves- they sell handsets, offer their own rate plans, and bill
customers directly.

The article makes it sound like this switch to Verizon basically is a
retreat from the wireless business for Qwest- they'll be selling Verizon
service AS Verizon service- not rebranding it as "Qwest" and competing
against Sprint, Verizon, etc. for customers. They'll sell it like they sell
DirecTV for TV service- as an already popular "parner" product you can
bundle with your Qwest home phone/DSL bill to save a few bucks a month.

After four years, Qwest still has less than 1,000,000 wireless customers, so
this story is really more a reflection of Qwest's inability to market
wireless (they used to be the incumbent wireline 800MHz cellular carrier in
their market and sold their entire system to Verizon, which is why they had
to go the MVNO route in the first place!) rather than any reflection on
Sprint. Qwest had a 5-year MVNO deal and seems to simply be bailing out of
the biz at it's expiration.