Qwest follows up with details on Verizon partnership

After yesterday's revealing of a sweeping new partnership with Verizon, Qwest took an opportunity during its earnings call today to go into detail on exactly what the deal means. The Baby Bell confirmed that Qwest branding will completely go away -- Verizon devices sold will be Verizon through and through, with no hint of rebranded MVNO action like the old setup with Sprint (which, in some cases, had meant Qwest exclusives like the Fusion). They also say that they're looking forward to implementing Verizon's next-gen (read: LTE) network just as soon as it's available, but really, here's our question: just what would Qwest be implementing, anyway? For all practical purposes, the company's doing nothing more than becoming a glorified authorized Verizon reseller; big wigs on the call said that the terms of the deal are "much, much better" than the old one with Sprint, and considering that they won't actually have to go through the daily grind of running an MVNO, it's no wonder. It's still unclear how Sprint customers are going to be transitioned, but we imagine Sprint proper would be happy to take 'em off Qwest's hands if it came down to it.