Qwest Communications International, the dominant provider of local telephone service in 14 Western states, said last night that it had incorrectly accounted for more than $1.1 billion of transactions from 1999 to 2001 in the latest revelation of accounting irregularities at a telecommunications company.

Qwest also said that its accounting problems might extend to areas beyond the sale of fiber optic capacity, where most scrutiny had been focused until recently.

Qwest CEO Notebaert: "We will not be the next shoe to drop." ... "I don't feel confident making any predictions about [telecom industry] recovery."

Qwest's ability to evade a bankruptcy filing depends to some degree on its ability to secure additional financing from its banks. Qwest CFO, on compliance with loan requirements: "We don't know what the second quarter is going to look like."

Qwest shares are down 94% in the last year. ... Serious doubts exist over whether [bandwidth swapping] deals were appropriate in any way [regardless of the accounting method employed].