Like Verizon and AT&T, Qwest's third quarter results indicate that there's a broadband growth slowdown. Unlike AT&T and Verizon, Qwest doesn't own a wireless division, so the slow growth is worrying investors. Also unlike AT&T and Verizon, the company hasn't officially announced their next-generation upgrade plans, though the company hints at faster speeds in their press packet (pdf):Given that their current residential maximum is 7Mbps DSL (with capped fiber in a limited number of developments), the 20Mbps reference is curious. We recently acquired internal documents and spoke to two company insiders that suggested the company is cooking up a limited ADSL2+ or VDSL launch in major markets. However, the launch, originally slated for August, has been repeatedly delayed.

According to the documents, the company had hoped to serve 8% of Qwest customers with the new service by the end of 2007 and 24% of Qwest's customers by the end of 2008. Denver, Phoenix and Colorado Springs were supposed to be the first three markets launched, with Seattle, Minneapolis, Albuquerque, Portland, Salt Lake City and Des Moines coming later. Some Phoenix forum users have reported that Qwest has been busily laying fiber.

Qwest representatives, however, denied imminent plans of any kind, including VDSL, ADSL2+ or expanded FTTH.

Update: Qwest's CEO subsequently confirmed plans to offer 20Mbps FTTN to 1.5 million customers in their earnings conference call.