OLD WORLD NOT DEAD:US West struggles with demand for phone lines
By Bloomberg News
Special to CNET News.com
July 19, 1999, 4:00 p.m. PT
US West, which agreed yesterday to be acquired by Qwest Communications International, is
having trouble keeping up with demand for new phone lines in Colorado.
The Denver-based local phone service company told the state Public Utility Commission last week that
orders for new phone lines soared to about 280,000 in March 1999 from about 175,000 in January 1997.
About 40 percent of that growth came in areas where the company wasn't expecting it.
In Colorado, for example, demand for additional residential phone lines is growing about 19 percent a year
as more people work at home or access the Internet, US West executives told the
commission.
If the company isn't able to provide satisfactory service, it may be forced to refund
$15 million annually in credits to customers. It wouldn't be the first time US West
was penalized. It paid $5.3 million in penalties four years ago because of poor
phone service. Analysts said improving US West's customer service it one of the
tougher tasks facing Qwest chief executive Joseph Nacchio, who will run the
combined company.
The commission will decide July 23 whether to proceed with a formal investigation
of US West service issues, said Terry Bote, a PUC spokesman.
In 1994 and 1995, US West cited explosive growth for the service problems that
prompted the $5.3 million penalty. That caused state regulators to set
service-quality standards, which the company is having trouble meeting. Orders for
basic service that can't be filled within 30 days rose to about 1,400 from less than
400.
US West's 14-midwestern and western U.S. state service region includes some of the most rapidly growing
states in terms of population. Many new customers are moving into remote areas of the Rocky Mountain
region, and demanding services widely available in urban areas.
The state commission said it handled 65 percent more calls for information or complaints about utilities
during its fiscal year ended June 30 than in the prior year, and the bulk of those calls were about US West.
US West ranked last among the seven regional Bell operating companies in terms of customer satisfaction,
according to a 1998 J.D. Power and Associates survey.
OLD WORLD NOT DEAD |
