The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission postponed its decision on whether to support the acquisition of Qwest by Louisiana-based telephone company CenturyLink, amid concerns about whether the $10.6 billion merger is in the best interest of the public.
The commission voted 3-2 on Thursday to return to the matter next month. Observers had been expecting approval of the acquisition and were surprised by the delay. But most believe the PUC eventually will approve the deal because there has been only limited opposition to it.
Still, the lack of significant opposition doesn't mean there aren't valid concerns, commissioners said.
"Running Qwest is a unique experience, and it is beyond anything CenturyLink has faced to date," Commissioner J. Dennis O'Brien said in proposing to delay the decision. "There was no evidence that the acquisition agreement meets the public interest."
The motion to delay followed a lengthy dispute at the hearing between Qwest and its competitors over whether the terms of the agreement adequately protected the interests of competitors.
O'Brien said he would support the acquisition if the agreement included more safeguards for Qwest competitors and if the new commissioner of the Department of Commerce, Mike Rothman, supported the deal. The former commerce commissioner approved the deal for reasons that weren't entirely clear, O'Brien said.
In a joint statement, Qwest and CenturyLink said that, while they were disappointed by the delay, "we remain confident that the record shows this transaction is in the public interest and that the commission will approve the merger in early March."
Denver-based Qwest is Minnesota's largest telephone company. The Qwest telephone network stretches over 14 states, so the acquisition must be approved by regulators in several states.