The question was popped earlier this year and now Qwest Communications International Inc. has sealed the deal. The company has sown all its wild oats and has put its wild, mobile virtual network operator days behind it, no longer running on the Sprint Nextel Corp. network. Instead, Qwest will be an exclusive agent for Verizon Wireless, offering the carrier’s service and handsets to all new residential and business customers in its residential service area.
Customers who decide to stay with Qwest and make the switch to Verizon Wireless service from Qwest will not have an early termination fee, said John Gonner, director of product management in the wireless department for Qwest. Further, customers won’t have to pay additional charges if they move to a different carrier, although Gonner would not provide details.
“It [Sprint Nextel’s service] will shut off and when we do we’ll handle subscribers appropriately,” Gonner said. “[There will be] no charge to the customer. It will be a white glove experience.”
Qwest initially announced the marriage to the nation’s No. 2 carrier in early May of this year. Qwest branding will be replaced by Verizon Wireless’, and Qwest will offer all of Verizon Wireless’s handsets and plans to its customers.
Liberation
On Sprint Nextel’s network, Qwest was only allowed to sell wireless services within its 14-state wireline footprint. Gonner said that the nature of the agreement with Verizon Wireless extends nationwide, giving Qwest the opportunity to sell to government and military sectors, an option it didn’t have before.
Gonner also said Qwest will begin calling each customer individually to recommend plans and special offers, in an effort to transition everyone over to Verizon Wireless. Qwest’s agreement with Sprint Nextel is set to end early next year.
“That communication will start soon,” Gonner said.
Qwest has roughly 800,000 wireless customers and hopes that they’ll be convinced to stick with Qwest and transition into Verizon Wireless. However, Qwest may well lose some customers, but Gonner said the company isn’t concerned about that.
“We’re confident it won’t be a churn situation,” Gonner said. “[We’ll] keep customers with compelling calling plans and phones.”
Verizon Wireless retains the same hopes for the future. President and COO of Verizon Communications Inc. Denny Strigl commented on the relationship during the carrier’s second quarter conference call.
“As customers come out of contract they will be migrating over to Verizon Wireless service,” Strigl said. “So we’ll see that over time; it’ll happen probably over the next 12 to 18 months.”
Casualties of the deal
Despite the benefits to Qwest, the carrier is losing some features. Qwest’s “one-number” offering – which forwards unanswered calls from a home phone to a cellphone, for example – will no longer be available when the agreement with Verizon Wireless finalizes. Gonner said the carrier will offer a call-forwarding service, similar to “one-number,” but hopes to work with Verizon Wireless in the future on additional services.
Gonner said establishing deeper partnerships is a new and integral part of Qwest’s business plan, and the carrier may have hit that head on by partnering with Verizon Wireless.
So, are there any objections? It doesn’t matter. They’ve been pronounced partners and now Qwest faces the challenge of convincing its children to adopt the new step-parent.
