The company lost 42 cents per share, or $698 million, for the three months ended March 31, compared with a net loss of $46 million, or 3 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2001. Thomson Financial/First Call's analyst estimate called for a loss of 4 cents a share.

Qwest attributed the lost to its investment in KPNQwest, a European data/telecommunication subsidiary, which included both a write down of the company's equity investment of $462 million and the company's share of restructuring charges recorded in the quarter by KPNQwest of $74 million.

The poor performance was not unexpected since Qwest had cut its growth outlook several times within the past six months, due to heavy competition, weak demand for data services and a drop in local telephone service revenues due to opened markets.

Qwest, however, did outline methods of improving its performance in its earnings report. The company said it had maintained first-quarter capital spending at half of last year's level and will continue to focus on areas of recurring revenue that include data and Internet services, which represented 23 per cent of total revenue and wireless services, which composed 28 per cent.

The company also stated that it would consider the issue of new equity-based securities. Shares in the company have fallen 64 per cent since the end of last year.