Regulators should carefully scrutinize CenturyLink and Qwest deal

FEW places in the world depend on leading-edge telecommunications more than Seattle. Every second, millions of people along Puget Sound tap broadband or surf the Internet or use conventional landlines to transact business or transmit personal communications. Seattle's entire economy — not to mention whatever bold technology its pioneers may develop — depends on reliable and accessible telecommunications services.

All of which explains why our company, Integra Telecom, is calling on the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission, other Western state utility regulators and the Federal Communications Commission to carefully examine the proposed merger of CenturyLink and Qwest Communications. Too much of the West's economic and technological future is at stake for regulators to give the CenturyLink/Qwest merger a perfunctory review.

We're not alone. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Washington's Public Interest Research Group and many other consumer advocacy organizations, as well as other telecom companies and their small business customers, are all urging regulators to follow the law and do their due diligence on CenturyLink's desire to acquire Qwest.

Why? It's simple: Nearly two out of three Washingtonians — and virtually everyone in greater Seattle-Tacoma — rely on Qwest's network every time they log onto the Internet or pick up a telephone. That seamless link to cutting-edge telecommunications is something almost all of us take for granted. But we shouldn't: it's not our birthright.

It's the product of many years of innovation, entrepreneurship and operational experience. It's not hyperbole to say that Qwest's network helped make the Pacific Northwest the high-tech incubator it has become. It should also be emphasized that all customers, even those of competitors like Integra, are at risk, because companies like ours have to interconnect with Qwest to serve our customers.

Qwest is a huge corporation, a former Bell regional operating company with 30,000 employees, a nationwide broadband network, and a local-service presence in 14 Western and Midwestern states. CenturyLink, on the other hand, is a small Louisiana-based operation that's a quarter the size of Qwest. It would become the first rural carrier ever permitted to buy and manage the infrastructure of an entire former Bell operating company. If that isn't sobering enough, it would also be acquiring Qwest's formidable debt load of nearly $12 billion.

CenturyLink says it's up to the task. But the recent history of small carriers buying pieces of former Bell companies is not encouraging. Swallowing not a piece but the whole Bell company is a staggering challenge. Twice in the past few years small local phone companies have gone bankrupt trying to manage sophisticated parts of a former Bell company. In both instances, broadband commitments were compromised, community jobs were lost, customer service was degraded, public safety links suffered outages, and the local business climate suffered terribly. That alone should give us pause.

Nor has CenturyLink fared well in J.D. Powers & Associates' annual survey of customer satisfaction with local and long-distance telephone carriers. In all four regions of the country in the September 2010 survey, CenturyLink ranked in the lowest quartile. In the West region, CenturyLink was listed as eighth out of 10 providers, voted "below average" on cost, reliability, offerings and customer service.

Not only will hard-pressed CenturyLink have to contend with Qwest's immense debt and advanced operating systems, but it will also have to comply, for the first time in its history, with strict federal regulatory requirements governing competition and access. That's biting off a lot for a small carrier.

CenturyLink and Qwest have been pressuring regulators to accelerate their respective reviews of the merger. Given the dismal recent track record of acquisitions like this one, the last thing Seattle consumers and businesses can afford is a rush to judgment on this merger. The Utilities and Transportation Commission should go about its business in a thorough and deliberate manner, reaching thoughtful conclusions on its own timetable that are best for local residents and businesses.

Let's get this one right. Telecom is too important to Seattle to be treated cavalierly.