Qwest has released their fourth quarter earnings, which indicate that Qwest earnings fell some 39% in large part thanks to the continuing death of traditional landline service. According to Qwest, the carrier posted a profit of $108 million, or 6 cents per share compared with a profit of $177 million one year earlier. Consumers and businesses continued to disconnect their landlines, reducing Qwest's landline total by 12 percent on the quarter, leaving Qwest with 6.8 million landlines in service.

Qwest hasn't wanted to spend the money on deploying IPTV service, so they've instead bundled DirecTV service. Bundled DirecTV customers rose 10% (23,000) on the quarter to 880,000 customers. Similarly Qwest has no wireless division, so they've been forced to resell service from Verizon Wireless, those customers rising 18.5 percent (64,000 subscribers) to 850,000 wireless lines in service.

As for broadband, Qwest's broadband subscriber total rose 4.5 percent (80,000), and the carrier now serves more than 3 million broadband customers. Qwest is of course modestly upgrading their network with VDSL service, which the company now says is used by 420,000 customers, or 14% of Qwest’s total high-speed Internet customers.

Qwest's primary focus has been cost reduction, the carrier trimming ts work force by 8.5% last year, or around 2,800 employees. Qwest has been trying to clean up their financials in large part because it appears the company is looking to be acquired, but Qwest's significantly rural copper-based network hasn't been seeing many suitors (at least at the price Qwest wants for it).

Qwest bought much of their current infrastructure from U S West in 2000 for $45 billion, but current estimates peg Qwest's total current worth at somewhere around $20 billion. That's a little steep for smaller carriers like Windstream Communications. Meanwhile carriers like Verizon who could afford such a deal are making a concerted effort to get out of the kind of markets Qwest serves.

With no wireless division, no real TV bundle, a dying landline base, significant debt and only modest upgrade ambitions (which you'll recall stock jock Craig Moffett claimed was a good thing,) Qwest's sale price may continue dropping whether Qwest likes it or not.