DENVER—Qwest Communications and Comcast Corp. on Tuesday resolved a lawsuit over advertising claims about Internet service as they continue to battle for customers in a competitive marketplace.
Qwest Communications International Inc. agreed to stop using its broadband side-by-side challenge advertising campaign, which touted Qwest’s service as faster than Comcast’s service. The company did not admit wrongdoing.
In exchange, Comcast Cable Communications Management agreed to dismiss the lawsuit against Denver-based Qwest. The two companies filed the stipulation in U.S. District Court, each agreeing to pay its own court costs.
The telecommunications companies are in a heated contest to land customers for bundled packages of Internet, television and telephone services.
The lawsuit, filed June 4, centered on a Qwest campaign that claimed 72 percent of Internet users agreed its DSL service was as fast or faster than Comcast’s broadband service. The ads appeared in newspapers, on television and on the Internet beginning May 15.
Qwest said the results were based on a side-by-side test of high-speed Internet services it conducted in the fourth quarter of 2006.
Comcast accused Qwest in the lawsuit of engaging in false and deceptive advertising, contending the survey used Qwest’s fastest DSL service but excluded Comcast’s fastest level of service.
Comcast sought a court order prohibiting Qwest from running the ads and requiring it to correct the claims.
Qwest spokesman Bob Toevs said the company will continue to tout its services as superior but will scrap the side-by-side challenge test ads.
In an e-mailed statement, Comcast spokeswoman Cindy Parsons said the company was pleased and continued to believe its product was the best available.
Based in Philadelphia, Comcast is the nation’s largest cable operator with 24.2 million cable customers and 12.1 million high-speed Internet customers.
Qwest, one of the nation’s largest telecommunications companies, sells telephone and Internet services and DirecTV satellite TV service. It is the primary telephone service provider in 14 mostly Western states.
