Qwest long-haul bids seen below ask price: sources

By Sinead Carew and Jessica Hall

NEW YORK/PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Qwest Communications International Inc (Q.N) has asked for bids for its long-distance network to be submitted early next month and is looking for more than $2 billion, but some bankers don't see it fetching this much, people familiar with the matter said.

Operators such as Level 3 Communications Inc (LVLT.O) and tw telecom inc (TWTC.O) are expected to bid for the assets, potentially in partnership with private equity investors, according to the sources.

Companies such as Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) and AT&T Inc (T.N) have examined prospects for a deal but would be interested only if they could get the network for a cheap price, said a person who expects Qwest to get several bids in the first week in June. Wireless provider Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N) is also mulling a bid for the network, according to that person.

But even if Qwest, which has a total market capitalization of about $6.8 billion, did end up attracting multiple bidders, it would likely be offered less than it has hoped, sources said.

"They are going to have to take a lower-than-expected price or end up keeping the network themselves. They aren't going to get the asking price they floated," said an investment banker who specializes in telecommunications.

"They could end up getting low-ball bids and then they have a hard decision to make -- do they keep it or just sell it to get it off their books and get rid of the maintenance and upgrade costs?" the person said.

Representatives from Qwest; Level 3; AT&T; Sprint and tw telecom, formerly known as Time Warner Telecom, declined to comment.

In response to a question about a potential Qwest deal, Verizon Chief Financial Officer John Killian implied on Wednesday at the Reuters Technology Summit that his company was not interested in the deal. He said Verizon was happy with its network.