Integra Telecom Congratulates CenturyLink-Qwest for Reaching Merger Agreement

Merger Has Potential to Increase Efficiencies and Lower Retail and Wholesale Costs

PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Integra Telecom Inc., a telecommunications provider for businesses, supports industry consolidations that lead to improvements in efficiencies and increased investment in the nation’s communications infrastructure. Integra hopes that the proposed merger of CenturyLink and Qwest will have such positive outcomes.

"We have partnered with Qwest for many years to bring our customers excellent, locally based services and we look forward to developing equally strong relationships with CenturyLink," said Dudley Slater, CEO of Integra Telecom. "To ensure that the impact of the proposed merger on the millions of customers served by Qwest and CenturyLink is positive, the deal must be reviewed and approved by multiple state public utility commissions as well as the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice. Integra plans to fully participate in those proceedings to make certain that our customers will not be adversely affected in any way.”

Integra Telecom provides voice and data services to businesses in 11 Western States, nine in which Qwest operates. All Integra Telecom service areas are supported by locally based customer care representatives and technicians.

About Integra Telecom

Integra Telecom Inc. provides integrated communications services across 33 metropolitan areas in 11 states of the Western United States, including: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah and Washington. It owns and operates a best-in-class fiber-optic network comprised of more than 2,800 route miles in 11 metropolitan access networks including approximately 1,386 on-net buildings, a world class Internet and data network, and approximately 4,900-mile high-speed long-haul fiber network. The company has earned some of the highest customer loyalty and customer satisfaction ratings in the telecommunications industry. Primary equity investors in the company include Goldman, Sachs & Co., Tennenbaum Capital Partners, funds managed by Farallon Capital Partners and Warburg Pincus. Integra Telecom and Electric Lightwave are registered trademarks of Integra Telecom Inc. For more information, visit: www.integratelecom.com.

CONTACT:

Integra Telecom Inc.
John Nee, 503-453-8084
john.nee@integratelecom.com
or
LANE PR
Shannon Riggs, 503-546-7885
shannon@lanepr.com

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  Oregon

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Technology  Internet  Networks  Telecommunications

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