CenturyTel Inc. agreed Thursday to buy Qwest Communications International, Inc. in an all-stock deal that values the last legacy “Baby Bell” at nearly $10.6 billion, in one of the nation’s largest telecommunications deals.

The merger would dwarf Frontier Communications’ purchase of Verizon landline service and create the nation’s largest independent phone company with operations in 40 states.

Qwest has been off and on the sales block for years, considered the weakest player among the split-up remnants of the old Bell System.  Qwest has fallen well behind AT&T and Verizon in adopting next generation technology to keep landline service relevant in a changing marketplace.  CenturyTel’s business model, like that of Windstream and Frontier, depends on serving rural areas with basic broadband and phone services, without incurring the costs larger providers have in deploying fiber to the home or fiber to the curb networks needed to compete with cable television providers.

Critics contend the consolidation of independent phone companies has left them preoccupied with their stock value and dividend payouts, unwilling to make substantial investments many believe are essential to keep such companies relevant in the long term.  Cell phones continue to eat away at landline service, and the kind of slow speed DSL service available from most of these players cannot compete effectively against cable and fiber broadband service, except in rural communities where customers have just one choice.

We will have additional coverage on this important development shortly.

Cox Cable is joining a steady parade of broadband providers giving the boot to one of the Internet’s oldest services – Usenet newsgroups, telling customers if they want to keep receiving the service, they’ll have to pay someone else to get it.

Broadband Reports notes Cox customers are receiving e-mail notifications about the imminent demise of a service that many newer subscribers probably know nothing about:

Declining newsgroup usage in recent years has highlighted the need to focus our resources on other priorities, such as increasing our Internet speeds and providing new services, including Cox Media Store and Share. We understand that our newsgroup subscribers may want to continue accessing Usenet. Therefore, we have worked with leading newsgroup service provider Giganews to offer special pricing for Cox subscribers.

Giganews is a well-respected, albeit expensive newsgroup service provider offering more than one year of message retention, useful for those using the service to obtain older files. Copyright enforcement on newsgroups is lax, which is one reason some Internet Service Providers may not wish to bother with the service any longer.  But it’s not entirely a piracy haven.  Old time radio show enthusiasts trade programs back and forth and others use the service to discuss wide-ranging topics with an international audience.

Despite the end of newsgroup service, Cox Cable does not plan to compensate customers with a lowered broadband bill.

A Giganews representative visited the Cox users forum on Broadband Reports to promote the deal:

The “deals” Giganews is offering Cox users are fairly standard, and include a two month 50% discount off of Giganews’ “Diamond Plan” (and 10% for the rest of your subscription). Users interested in less expensive plans will get 50% off of those plans for a month (and 10% for the rest of your subscription). That 10% lifetime discount is being offered for the first time ever, according to a GigaNews rep that has stopped by our Cox forum.

There are cheaper alternatives.

Chama, New Mexico

Emergency officials trying to warn residents of Chama, New Mexico about the threat of potential flooding were stymied by widespread service outages from Windstream Communications, the area’s broadband and telephone service provider.

The loss of service even impacted cell phone companies, whose cell tower sites relied on Windstream to get cell phone traffic into the telephone network.

More than 30,000 customers lost long distance and Internet service in the Chana area, leaving a local radio station as the primary source for communications to and from officials and Chana residents.

Residents began calling KZRM Radio asking about the service outages, leaving one local DJ to shrug his shoulders, noting he didn’t know because he couldn’t call out either.

Windstream kept 911 service running by call forwarding incoming emergency calls to cell phones in Española, located on the other side of Rio Arriba County.

Information about the flooding ultimately traveled primarily by word of mouth.

Windstream blamed the outage on a power surge.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/KOAT Albuquerque Chama Communications Down During Flooding 4-19-10.flv[/flv]

KOAT-TV in Albuquerque reports on the plight of 30,000 Chama residents left without cell, long distance, or Internet service during a potentially dangerous flood.  (2 minutes)

“The world is calling. Answer it. With Verizon Wireless, you can call and text in more than 220 countries.”

Verizon Wireless has taken some liberties in its latest advertising, claiming to provide service to “more than 220 countries” worldwide.

That’s an amazing feat, considering there are fewer than 200 recognized nations on Earth.

In fact, although recognized authorities peg the number of nations somewhat differently — the United Nations recognizes 192, National Geographic 193, and the World Atlas 195 — nobody comes close to Verizon Wireless.

The company told Consumerist, who made inquiries, that it counts special administrative regions, dependent territories, and other special zones as individual countries.

Norfolk Island, part of the Commonwealth of Australia, enjoys full sovereignty as an independent nation in the eyes of Verizon.

So do the Falkland Islands (or Las Islas Malvinas if you prefer), a fact sure to upset Great Britain which fought a war over the matter in the early 1980s.

Even the Åland Islands, a Swedish-speaking territory of Finland, ends up on the list. The neutral Åland Islands were considered the Switzerland of the Baltic Sea during World War 2, where merchant ships delivered goods for both the Axis powers and the Allies.  These days, both Germans and the English can text one another with Verizon Wireless.

At this rate, Verizon could claim South Bass Island, one of several Lake Erie Islands, as an independent nation, too.

[flv width=”640″ height=”500″]http://www.phillipdampier.com/video/WTTG Washington Verizon Ad Makes Confusing Claim 4-16-10.flv[/flv]

WTTG-TV in Washington explores Verizon’s confusing claim that it delivers service in more countries than exist on planet Earth.  (1 minute)

Endangered Species: The AT&T Printed White Pages Directory

A plan approved this week by the Kentucky Public Service Commission will allow AT&T Kentucky to cease universal distribution of White Pages telephone directories in the Louisville area saving the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in printing and distribution costs it does not plan to pass along to customers.

Customers in Jefferson and Oldham counties will receive directories only if they request them from AT&T Kentucky. Customers in the other 75 counties served by AT&T Kentucky will, for now, continue to receive printed directories that combine White Pages with Yellow Pages.

“They will be publicizing that and how to do that to all the customers. It’s not just people who receive their phone service from AT&T Kentucky, but those who get it for example from the local cable company, because they’ve been getting the AT&T Kentucky White Pages as well,” PSC spokesperson Andrew Melnykovich told WFPL Public Radio in Louisville.

AT&T Kentucky will make the contents of the directory available on the Internet (at RealPagesLive), while existing and new customers who request a printed directory will receive one at no charge.  Yellow Pages, which contain business listings, will continue to be dropped on the doorstep of every Louisville customer.

AT&T Kentucky is the second phone company in Kentucky to move away from printed White Pages.  Last April, Cincinnati Bell, which serves northern Kentucky, dropped universal distribution of its White Pages.

AT&T says the printed directories are less valuable to customers who often turn to the web to look up telephone listings.  They also believe the move away from printed directories will protect the environment and provide significant savings to the company.  AT&T has been getting permission to stop printing White Pages in several states where it provides service.

Unfortunately for customers, none of that savings will appear on your AT&T bill.  The company does not plan any rate decrease to share the savings with ratepayers.

The PSC has told AT&T to collect and report customer complaints about the discontinued printed directories, as well as how many residents request them from AT&T,  and forward the details to the agency for review.