Qwest Corporation

Qwest Corporation
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Telecommunications
Predecessor	Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, US West Communications, Inc.
Founded	1911
Headquarters	Denver, United States
Area served	Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
Owner	Lumen Technologies
Parent	Lumen Technologies
Website	www.centurylink.com

Qwest Corporation, doing business as CenturyLink QC, is a Regional Bell Operating Company under the ownership of Lumen Technologies. Established in 1911 originally as the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company (later known as Mountain Bell), it operated under the name US West Communications, Inc. from 1991 until 2000. The company’s portfolio includes the former businesses of Malheur Bell, Northwestern Bell, and Pacific Northwest Bell.

Denver Telephone Dispatch Company - 1879

Frederick O. Vaille and Henry R. Walcott, both Harvard alumni, collaborated with Denver saloon owner Sam Morgan to obtain a telephone franchise from American Bell Telephone Company. This partnership led to the creation of the Denver Telephone Dispatch Company on February 24, 1879, marking Denver’s early involvement in telecommunications shortly after Minneapolis.

Formation of the Colorado Telephone Company - 1881

Facing competition from Western Union’s Colorado Edison Telephone Company—which serviced nearby towns using state-of-the-art transmitters—the Denver Dispatch Company expanded its network to include Golden, Black Hawk, Georgetown, and Central City. After American Bell prevailed in a patent infringement lawsuit against Western Union, it acquired Western Union’s telephone operations, effectively eliminating local competition until 1997.

In 1881, Vaille joined forces with Denver business figures to establish the Colorado Telephone Company, which took over remaining contracts from Denver Dispatch. Henry Wolcott was appointed president while Vaille served as general manager for three years. The company experienced swift growth, extending telephone service to rural ranches, farms, mines, and communities along Colorado’s front range and acquired the Leadville company in 1888.

Rocky Mountain Bell - 1883

Less than two years after its inception, the Denver Dispatch Company witnessed the launch of the Rocky Mountain Telephone Company in Salt Lake City, Utah, which started with fewer than 100 subscribers. Financially supported by American Bell, this entity was reorganized as the Rocky Mountain Bell Telephone Company in 1883. It embarked on an assertive acquisition campaign, absorbing nearly all small telephone providers throughout Utah, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming.

Nevertheless, excessive expenditures, ineffective management, and the difficulties inherent in servicing vast and sparsely populated regions caused financial strain for Rocky Mountain Bell.

Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph - 1911

On July 17, 1911, a merger between Colorado Telephone and Tri-State Telephone resulted in the formation of The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, which then acquired Rocky Mountain Bell on July 20, 1911. Recognizing Rocky Mountain Bell’s operational challenges, Vaille ensured that managers from Colorado Telephone assumed critical leadership roles within the new structure. He continued as a director of Mountain States until his death in 1920.

Several buildings constructed by Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph remain standing today and are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

Until 1969, MST&T operated under the name Mountain States Telephone, transitioning to Mountain Bell with the debut of the updated Bell System logo. Its service territory included Colorado, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, southern Idaho, Wyoming, and the area around El Paso, Texas. The company also maintained a controlling interest in Malheur Home Telephone Company (Malheur Bell) based in Oregon, which remained an independent subsidiary wholly owned until 2009.

In 1982, Mountain Bell divested its El Paso operations to Southwestern Bell. Prior to 1984, AT&T held an 88.6% ownership stake in Mountain Bell.

The Mountain Bell brand was resurrected by Unical Enterprises in 2006 for use with telephone products. The MountainBell.com domain remains active and redirects users to CenturyLink’s official website.

From 1929 through 1984, Mountain Bell’s headquarters were situated at 931 14th Street in Denver. As part of a corporate real estate initiative, portions of this building along with the adjacent structure at 930 were renovated between 2009 and 2010 to consolidate employees previously housed in leased Qwest facilities. In 2023, following minor refurbishments, Lumen Technologies moved senior executive offices from its former Level 3 Communications campus in Broomfield back into the Mountain Bell headquarters building.

Post-divestiture

In 1984, the Bell System was split into seven distinct Regional Bell Operating Companies. US West, Inc. emerged as the parent company overseeing Mountain Bell, Northwestern Bell, and Pacific Northwest Bell.

US West Communications

By 1988, US West brought its operating entities together under a unified brand, US West Communications, while keeping their corporate identities legally separate. A shared logo featuring the Bell symbol was adopted across all companies.

Bell Operating Companies consolidation

Effective January 1, 1991, US West merged Northwestern Bell and Pacific Northwest Bell into Mountain Bell. The next day, Mountain Bell was renamed US West Communications, Inc., consolidating the three operations into one entity.

US West Communications led several advancements in telecommunications: it became the first local phone provider to launch Caller ID in 1991, implemented electronic switching in its PSTN network prior to 1990, and introduced both residential and business ISDN services followed by DSL offerings by 1997.

Since its formation in 1984, US West marketed telephone equipment under the Northwestern Bell brand. In 1992, it granted Unical Enterprises exclusive rights to manufacture phones carrying this name, branded as BELL Phones by Northwestern Bell Phones.

Divestiture of rural assets

Beginning in 1993, US West started divesting unprofitable rural telephone lines within its 14-state territory but retained directory publishing operations for those regions.

Key sales included the transfer of 10 Arizona exchanges in 1993; selling 45 Colorado exchanges to Pacific Telecom (which later became CenturyTel of Eagle) in 1994; divesting Idaho exchanges to Fremont Telcom in 1995; and moving several South Dakota exchanges to Golden West Telecommunications between 1996 and 1997. These transactions encompassed thousands of access lines and were incorporated into subsidiaries such as Vivian Telephone Company.

In 1999, US West announced plans to sell approximately 530,000 rural access lines to independent carrier Citizens Communications for $1.65 billion. This agreement excluded US West Dex directory services and was not finalized before the year 2000.

Acquisition by Qwest

In 2000, Qwest Communications International completed a hostile takeover of US West. Despite initial opposition and competing acquisition attempts from Global Crossing and Frontier Communications, Qwest capitalized on its high stock valuation during the dot-com era to acquire the larger US West entity. Following this acquisition, the former Bell Operating Company was rebranded as Qwest Corporation.

In 2001, Qwest canceled a previously arranged sale of rural telephone lines after Citizens Communications declined to finalize the deal. On December 14, 2009, Qwest Corporation streamlined operations by merging its longtime subsidiary Malheur Bell into itself.

Acquisition by CenturyLink

CenturyLink finalized its purchase of Qwest on April 1, 2011. After this merger, Qwest Corporation became a subsidiary of CenturyLink and was renamed CenturyLink QC on August 8, 2011. This consolidation reunited telephone exchanges originally acquired by Pacific Telecom in the 1990s that had previously been separated from US West Communications.

Qwest Corporation stands out as one of only two original Bell Operating Companies owned by corporations not established as Baby Bells in 1983; the other being Frontier West Virginia.

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