The long-distance industry is not a very happy place to be. There's a large influx of competition from the Baby Bells and the trend of wireless and e-mail replacing traditional phones is continuing.

People feel like their Web sites must be compliant. They're wondering what the enforcement is going to be like and what the penalties will be. People are taking this very seriously.

The stock price may have come down but Qwest still carries a heavy debt burden and that is not very attractive to potential acquirers.