CenturyLink, Qwest wrap up their merger

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) and Qwest (NYSE: Q) have completed their merger today as expected--almost a year since they initially announced their marriage last April.

In a single stroke, the once small town telephone operator CenturyLink instantly becomes the third largest U.S.-based telecom service provider. The newly combined service provider will have presence in 37 states serving a mix of residential, business, wholesale and government customers over a 190,000-mile fiber network.

The combined provider will also have over five million broadband customers, 17 million access lines, 1,415,000 video subscribers and 850,000 wireless consumers.

In announcing the completion of the deal, Glen F. Post, III, chief executive officer and president of CenturyLink, said that "The combination of our two companies allows us to offer customers of all sizes an even more robust portfolio of communications solutions that will continue to be backed by honest and personal service."

Although the combined company will leverage the CenturyLink name, the Qwest brand will continue to be used in former Qwest markets for the next several months during an initial transition period.

CenturyLink's corporate headquarters will continue to operate out of Monroe, La., while the telco will maintain Qwest's current headquarters to house its Business Markets Group in the Denver metro area. Denver will also serve as the location of one CenturyLink's new six regional headquarters. It will operate five other regional headquarters located in Phoenix; Minneapolis; Seattle; Wake Forest, N.C.; and Apopka, Fla.

The new company board will include members of CenturyLink and Qwest. Four current members of Qwest's board will join the new company's board: Edward A. Mueller, Charles L. Biggs, Michael J. Roberts and James A. Unruh. Mueller, however, won't have an executive role at the company. A number of other high level Qwest executives, including CFO Joseph Euteneur, who has been tapped as Sprint's new CFO, will leave the company.

With the merger complete, the more challenging task of network, back office and company culture integration begins for the new CenturyLink.

CenturyLink Qwest Combined Coverage Map

For more:
- see the release

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