Qwest CEO Notebaert to Retire

Qwest Communications International chairman and CEO

Richard Notebaert

 told the telco’s board of directors he plans to retire, the company said Monday.
Notebaert, Qwest’s CEO since 2002, will step down once the board selects a successor, the company said. A formal search is underway.
Notebaert will have an opportunity to field questions from investors about Qwest’s leadership at a conference Monday in Manhattan. He is scheduled to speak at a Bear Stearns conference at 2:45 p.m. (EST). Qwest is running live audio and a replay of Notebaert’s presentation on its Web site.
Compared with fellow telephone providers Verizon Communications and AT&T,

Qwest has been slower to compete directly with cable operators by building its own pay TV service

. Instead, the company has

relied mostly on reselling DirecTV’s direct-broadcast satellite service

.
But Qwest said last week that it would consider

applying for video franchises in Iowa

, after

Gov. Chet Culver signed a new franchise law that goes into effect July 1

.