CenturyLink's Post: AT&T/T-Mobile deal will have minimal impact on its wireless backhaul future

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL), a wireline-centric provider, believes that it will take time to understand what effect AT&T's (NYSE: T) proposed deal to acquire T-Mobile (XETRA: DTE.DE) will have on its growing wireless backhaul business.

Like Qwest, which it just completed its merger with on Friday CenturyLink has been bullish about wireless backhaul. During its Q4 2010 earnings call, CenturyLink irked Wall Street investors when it said that it would allocate $1 billion in new capital spending in 2011 to fund new projects that drive fiber to cell towers.

Glen Post, CEO of CenturyLink, said in a Dow Jones article that the deal could have some impact on its wireless backhaul business, adding that he did not "think it would be significant."

Outside of wireless backhaul, CenturyLink's acquisition of Qwest will also enable it to enhance its business services power. CenturyLink plans to allocate capital dollars to expanding its own portfolio of business services and targeting new customers with Qwest's services. Prior to merging with CenturyLink, Qwest boasted a large customer base of large enterprise and government customers.   

"We think the enterprise market opportunity is really significant," Post said.

The drive to expand business and wireless backhaul services have become an increasingly popular trend for wireline-centric service providers like CenturyLink and others like Frontier and Windstream. Unlike AT&T and Verizon, these service providers lack a wireless business so they are leveraging their existing and new wireline network builds to focus on three Bs: broadband, business and backhaul.

For more:
- Total Telecom via Dow Jones has this article

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