Qwest released their first quarter earnings this morning, which show the baby bell's net income dropped to $157 million from $240 million one year ago, while overall sales dropped 1.4% to $3.4 billion. The telco bled 195,000 home-phone lines in the first quarter (more than some analysts expected), while adding just 90,000 broadband subscribers (less than many analysts expected) for 2.7 million total. Qwest CEO Ed Mueller says that's pretty good, considering the "challenging economic climate":Yesterday the company announced they'd scrapped their uninteresting (at least to consumers) wireless phone resale relationship with Sprint in exchange for a new deal with Verizon Wireless, impacting 824,000 customers. For those who e-mailed me suggesting this is a prelude to a purchase, it probably isn't happening. While Qwest would probably like to be purchased, the looming Presidential shift makes future FCC leadership (and therefore merger approval) uncertain.

The company says their new FTTN/ADSL2+ service will be made available in 23 of Qwest's top markets across 10 states throughout the year. The new 20Mbps/1Mbps service (Qwest Connect Quantum) without phone service is $105, a price that jumps to $115 per month after a year. The price for 12Mbps/1Mbps service (Qwest Connect Platinum) is $52 a month, a price that jumps to $65 a month after 12 months.