Qwest Communications is a large telecommunications carrier. Qwest provides local service in 14 western U.S. states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

Qwest provides voice, backbone data services, and digital television in some areas. It operates in three segments: Wireline Services, Wireless Services, and Other Services. The Wireline Services segment provides local voice, long distance voice, and data and Internet (DSL) services to consumers, businesses, and wholesale customers, as well as access services to wholesale customers. The Wireless Services segment is achieved by a partnership with Verizon Wireless. Qwest also partners with DirecTV to provide digital television service to its customers. In Phoenix, Denver, Salt Lake City,Boise, and Omaha, Qwest offers Qwest Choice TV. The Other Services segment primarily involves the sublease of real estate assets, such as space in office buildings, warehouses, and other properties.

Qwest Communications also provides long-distance services and broadband data, as well as voice and video communications globally. The company sells its products and services to small businesses, governmental entities, and public and private educational institutions through various channels, including direct-sales marketing, telemarketing, arrangements with third-party agents, company’s Web site, and partnership relations. As of September 13, 2005, Qwest had 98 retail stores in 14 states. Qwest Communications is headquartered in Denver, Colorado at 1801 California Street, in the 2nd tallest building in Denver at 53 stories. The majority of Qwest occupational or non-management employees are represented by two labor unions; the Communications Workers of America and in Montana, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Qwest also has a state-of-the-art development center in Bangalore, India called Qwest Software Services.

See also:

• Society: Issues: Fraud (164)
• Society: Issues: Human Rights and Liberties: Privacy (71)

• Qwest: Privacy Is Not Your Absolute Right
  thedenverchannel.com
  "Qwest Communications International has scrapped plans to share customer information among its divisions, but says in federal documents that privacy is not an absolute customer right." [The Denver Channel] (February 11, 2002)
• Private Sector; Qwest's Angry Shareholders Play 'Follow the Meeting'
  query.nytimes.com
  "When Qwest Communications International, the telecommunications company based in Denver, moved its shareholder meeting to Dublin, Ohio, angry shareholders from across the country followed quickly." By Julie Dunn. [New York Times] [Payment required.] (June 9, 2002)
• SEC Taking Tough Stance on Qwest
  money.cnn.com
  "Several current and former execs of the fiber-optic company said to testify in front of SEC." [CNN/Money] (June 26, 2002)