While Internet television may be the global rallying cry for phone companies seeking to wrest video customers away from cable and satellite television rivals, Richard Notebaert, the chairman and CEO of Qwest Communications, questions how ready customers are to buy IPTV, or Internet Protocol Television.

Quest is testing IPTV, but Notebaert doubts whether offering 200 channels over the Internet is much different from what customers now expect from existing television services. Weve got the (IPTV) stuff in the lab, a couple of trials, 20 meg(abytes) going to your home. We are not going to introduce a service that is not equal to or better than what the competitor has, he said, referring to cable TV rivals.

By contrast, rivals AT&T Inc. and Verizon, and to a lesser extent, BellSouth, are pouring investments into IPTV services. “Being a follower is not a bad thing,” he says.