as mentioned by someone else in a previous thread, Qwest is associated with and part of its operations are owned by Carlyle.
http://linkthing.com/screed/carlyle_group_cluster.htmlAn overlooked story makes more sense now: The Carlyle Group and Welsh Carson Close Qwest Dex East Deal
Formerly thought to be benign, this transaction provides Carlyle with personal and business data profitable for re-selling to Poindexter's Total Information Awareness System "The Carlyle Group and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe today closed the first part - Dex East - of their purchase of Qwest Communications' yellow page directories business."
(thecarlylegroup.com, 01/02/03 - link is 404 not found)
http://www.hereinreality.com/news/axis.html3. Roy Olofson, former vice president of finance for Global Crossing, accused company executives of overstating the company's assets, like with Enron, and of firing him when he tried to blow the whistle. Mr. Olofson told of shady deals being made with companies such as the telecommunications company Qwest. (
InfoWorld February 8, 2002)
4. Arthur Andersen kept the books for Qwest, too. Is Qwest playing accounting games?
(MSNBC.com Jan 31, 2002 - link is 404 not found)
5. On January 7, 2002, Qwest Chairman and CEO Joseph P. Nacchio was named Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) Network Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC). The appointment was announced by FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell. In addition to his role as chairman of the NRIC, Nacchio is vice chairman of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), a select group of industry executives that provides advice on security and emergency preparedness issues to President George W. Bush. Nacchio is scheduled to become chairman of NSTAC later this year. The leadership roles for the government will not distract Nacchio from running Qwest.
(Qwest Communications Press Release - link is 404 not found... again)
6. Enron and Qwest struck a deal last fall to swap fiber optic network capacity and services at exaggerated prices in an effort to improve each company's financial picture.
Broadband Week March 29, 2002
15. The Carlyle Group is connected to Qwest through its investment and partnership with a company called Citynet. Qwest Communications supplied bandwidth for Citynet as the company rose to become West Virginia's largest internet service provider.
(State's Largest Internet Company Sees Bright Future Ahead, Inside Citynet July, 2001 - 404)
(Carlyle Group purchased QwestDex yellow pages for $7 billion, Washington Post, August 20, 2002 - 404)
--
In looking for the cached or quoted versions of the above two articles, I found
this long, long discussion about telecommunications companies, including Qwest. Interesting. From a Seattle Times article:
Qwest, which serves 14 states and 30 million customers around the world and operates 2.5 million access lines in Washington, is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Congress and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver for alleged improper accounting.
The Denver-based telecommunications company is also carrying $25 billion of debt, so it is desperately looking for ways to raise cash to avoid default.
Analysts said the QwestDex sale is a step in the right direction. However, there could be regulatory challenges that could slow down the deal.
While the regulations are murky, half the states in Qwest's local-phone territory may have the authority to block the sale of QwestDex.
Instead of challenging it, however, commissions will most likely make deals with the company.
In the mid-1980s, Washington and six other local utilities commissions allowed US West, the local phone company later bought by Qwest, to move its directory unit into an unregulated part of its business.
But the company had to subsidize rates to reflect the value of the directory business.
"The commission has always waved a flag saying we were concerned about moving this asset out of the local phone company, when it was the local phone company and the local phone customers who built that asset," said Tim Sweeney, spokesman for the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission.
The Washington commission determined Qwest should subsidize $3 per bill to reflect the revenues generated by QwestDex. That works out to about $100 million per year.
Qwest would have to apply to the commission for a rate change if it wants to discontinue the subsidy.
"Then you'd have the staff and public counsel on record saying you had an asset change without benefiting the customer. You got X benefit, and some of that belongs to the customer," said Sweeney.
Before applying for a rate change or waiting for a challenge from state regulators, Qwest could approach the state commissions and try to make a deal.
blablabla...
There's a clause in the QwestDex sales agreement that allows the buyers private equity firms The Carlyle Group and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe to set a limit of $500 million for how much Qwest can pay in total to regulatory bodies, said Chris King, an associate analyst with Legg Mason. If that limit were exceeded, the
deal would have to be renegotiated.
A Qwest spokesman couldn't confirm that clause.
etc.
Very interesting. The conversation is also peppered with complaints about privacy concerns, poor service and high rates from various companies including Qwest, complaints which may or may not apply to the current situation.
Another interesting article quoted to look for which is quoted in the conversation:
Spitzer Sues Executives of Telecom Companies
By PATRICK McGEEHAN, New York Times
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=qwest+carlyle&btnG=Google+Searchhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=telecom+carlyle&btnG=Google+Search - Carlyle is a busy bee when it comes to buying up telecom cos.
Carlyle's WayMaking a mint inside "the iron triangle" of defense, government and industry.
December 11, 2001
The Bush administration isn't afraid to mix business and politics, and no other firm embodies that penchant better than the Carlyle Group. Walking that fine line is what Carlyle does best. We may not see Osama bin Laden's brothers at Carlyle's investor conferences any more, but business will go on as usual for the biggest old boys network around. As Mr. Snow puts it, "Carlyle will always have to defend itself and will never be able to convince certain people that they aren't capable of forging murky backroom deals. George Bush's father does profit when the Carlyle Group profits, but to make the leap that the president would base decisions on that is to say that the president is corrupt."
It's laudable that Qwest refused to cooperate with the NSA, but given the Carlyle ties and accounting questions, I can't help smelling a rat SOMEWHERE. Maybe I'm too cynical or paranoid or both, but any connection to Carlyle at all leaves me with a sense of unease. Someone with more skill and smarts than me could perhaps connect the dots or show that there are none to be connected. :shrug:
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