Qwest becomes CenturyLink and appoints new local head
On Friday, Qwest Communications officially gets a new owner, a new name and, in Colorado Springs, a new general manager.
Mike Burnett is a Qwest veteran and the former director of sales for Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Montana and Wyoming. On the day Monroe, La.-based CenturyLink’s $22 billion deal to buy Qwest is set to close, he’ll take the reins as CenturyLink’s vice president and general manager for southeast and western Colorado and be based in downtown Colorado Springs.
Off the bat, Burnett said Qwest customers shouldn’t expect anything different out of CenturyLink. Prices and services will be the same, he said. The name on the bills and billboards will be changed to CenturyLink, but it may take until the end of the summer.
“One of the things I want to emphasize is that on day one, they aren’t going to notice any changes,” Burnett said.
Longer term, however, the arrival of CenturyLink could shake up the local telecommunications scene. In other parts of the country, CenturyLink has pursued providing television services, competing with the local cable and satellite companies. It’s a strategy Qwest toyed with, but abandoned several years ago.
“It’s exciting,” Burnett said. “CenturyLink has had some success in rolling out IPTV (Internet protocol television), most recently in Las Vegas. We’ve seen a lot of success in that market.”
However, Burnett said there’s no schedule for introducing television service to Colorado Springs.
“We’re in the process now of going through that business case,” he said.
Customers can also expect CenturyLink to continue investments in improving its broadband Internet offerings. CenturyLink has promised to double the number of Qwest customers who can receive fast broadband services, with 12 megabits per second or higher speeds, and triple the number that can receive 40 megabit-per-second or higher service. CenturyLink has pledged to spend $70 million over five years to expand broadband in Colorado.
“We will be heavily focused on broadband,” Burnett said.
On a personal front, Burnett is selling his house in Denver and moving to the Springs. In the interim, he said, he’ll be making a long commute and, for the next month, will be doing an extended tour through his new operating area.
“I’m going to be down there as soon as possible permanently,” he said.
Having someone directly responsible for the Pikes Peak area, Burnett said, will mean a more responsive company and a better understanding of problems and opportunities. Under Qwest, all of Colorado was overseen by Chuck Ward, who was based in Denver and is leaving the new company.
“One of the very, very cool things about this new model and part of my responsibility is to get out there and understand where we can improve,” Burnett said. “We will have a team solely dedicated to that patch of dirt. All of that decision-making will now be made locally instead of centralized. I think that can only benefit our customers there.”
