Qwest makes it official: Sprint out, Verizon in
It looks like the price was right, because that possible deal mentioned by Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg a while back to supplant Sprint as Qwest's wireless provider of choice has now materialized in the form of a gargantuan five-year deal. From what little has been said so far, it seems that the company might be abandoning the MVNO model it currently uses with Sprint and will simply be marketing Verizon Wireless devices through its website, telesales, and in-store channels, giving customers the option of being billed directly by Big Red (how very kind of them!) or having the charges bundled in with the remainder of their service. Also remaining to be seen is how the transition of Qwest's existing Sprint-based customers -- some 800,000 of them -- would be transitioned, if at all. More details are expected to emerge during its earnings call on Tuesday, and we'd imagine current Qwest wireless customers are on the edges of their seats.
