Qwest plans $300 million in fiber-optic upgrades

Updated: December 17, 2007 - 8:27 PM

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Qwest Communications said Monday that it will invest $300 million in 2008 to upgrade the speed of its residential Internet service in selected areas of its 14-state region.

The fiber-optic cable initiative would be a relatively small part of Qwest's $1.8 billion capital spending budget for 2008, up from $1.6 billion in 2007. Denver-based Qwest declined to specify where it would make the fiber upgrades, which would serve portions of 20 market areas, including the Twin Cities.

The upgrades would extend fiber-optic cables to neighborhood signal distribution points, which would have the effect of speeding up home DSL Internet download speeds from a maximum of 7 million bits per second today to 20 million bits per second. The cost for the faster speed would be an additional $10 a month, or a total of $52 a month.

Qwest also indicated that it won't be spending money on providing fiber-optic-cable-based TV service, as Verizon and AT&T do.

STEVE ALEXANDER