NTCA's The New Edge » CenturyLink

CenturyLink Prepares for Broadband Caps

Jesse Ward — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:18:50 +0000

CenturyLink is preparing to institute usage caps on its DSL subscribers, according to a post this morning at tech blog Broadband Reports.

An internal company memo notes that the telco is changing its terms of service to reflect a 150 GB cap on users with connections 1.5 Mbps or slower, and a 250 GB cap on users who have connections faster than 1.5 Mbps. The CenturyLink website (and this pdf FAQ), confim the changes, but state the actual caps won’t be imposed until February.

“CenturyLink will weigh variables such as network health, congestion, availability of customer usage data, and the line speed purchased by the customer as factors when enforcing this policy,” said the company, adding that its Excessive Use Policy is application neutral. “It only looks at the total usage (bytes transferred) over a defined period of time independent of protocols, applications, or the content that is generating the excessive usage.”

CenturyLink is not the first broadband provider to turn to network management policies that apply caps. AT&T, Charter, Comcast, Cox, Frontier, Suddenlink and other tier 1 and 2 carriers have similar usage policies in place. However, there is a lack of uniformity in how so-called “bandwidth hogs” are handled. Some broadband providers charge overage fees, others throttle back the user’s bandwidth and may threaten to disconnect service to those who repeatedly violate the terms of use. While less strict providers merely encourage users to upgrade their service tiers.

Among tier 3 rural telcos, there appears to be a debate concerning whether caps and overage fees are successful network management strategies in keeping with the customer-centric spirit of small, rural carriers.

For more, see this post at Broadband Reports.

CenturyLink to Acquire Savvis, Expand Cloud and Enterprise Services

Jesse Ward — Mon, 02 May 2011 19:14:04 +0000

CenturyLink, the nation’s third largest telecom company, announced last week that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire information technology company Savvis Inc. for about $2.5 billion. The acquisition will expand the telco’s hosting, cloud computing and enterprise services.

The offer values Savvis at $40 a share, an 11% premium over its April 26, 2011, closing price, and a premium of 54% compared to its stock price at the beginning of the year. Under the terms of the deal, which also includes about $700 million in debt, Savvis holders will receive $30 a share in cash, and $10 in shares of CenturyLink common stock.

Analysts note that CenturyLink is striving to become the third major enterprise carrier in the U.S. alongside AT&T and Verizon. The Savvis acquisition will put CenturyLink in a prime spot to market itself to enterprises as a company that can deliver the same level of service as the big telcos.

With the addition of Savvis, CenturyLink will accelerate its ability to deliver quality managed hosting and cloud capabilities to its business customers. The combination of CenturyLink’s hosting and network assets with Savvis’ co-location, managed hosting and cloud solutions, enhances CenturyLink’s capabilities and provides the company with a solid platform for future growth.

“Today, businesses are shifting the way they manage their information technology services and infrastructure, and this transaction helps us meet these needs by offering Savvis’ leading products and services coupled with CenturyLink’s network,” said Glen F. Post, III, CenturyLink chief executive officer and president.

Together, CenturyLink and Savvis will operate 48 data centers located in North America, Europe and Asia with more than 1.9 million square feet of gross floor space; a robust, national 207,000 route mile fiber network; a 190,000 mile global access network; and have a customer list that includes a majority of the Fortune 500 and Fortune 1000 companies.

CenturyLink anticipates integrating its hosting business and Savvis’ managed hosting and cloud services into a single CenturyLink business unit. This integrated hosting business will be based in St. Louis and led by Savvis CEO James Ousley.

Following the closing of the transaction, CenturyLink will employ approximately 50,000 people — based on the total number of CenturyLink and Savvis employees as of April 26, 2011.

For more, see this press release.

CenturyLink and Qwest Complete Merger

Jesse Ward — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:29:12 +0000

CenturyLink Inc.and Qwest Communications have officially completed their merger, creating the nation’s third largest telecommunications company in the United States behind AT&T and Verizon.

The newly combined service provider will operate a 190,000-mile fiber network, offering a broad variety of services to residential, business, wholesale and government customers throughout its 37-state service area. The provider boasts more than 5 million broadband customers, 17 million access lines, 1,415,000 video subscribers and 850,000 wireless consumers.

“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,” said Glen F. Post, III, chief executive officer and president of CenturyLink.

The transaction was structured as a tax-free stock-for-stock exchange. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Qwest stockholders will receive 0.1664 shares of CenturyLink common stock for each share of Qwest common stock they owned at closing, plus cash paid in lieu of fractional shares.

CenturyLink expects the combination to generate annual operating and capital synergies of approximately $625 million when fully recognized over the next three to five years. On a pro forma basis, the combined company had revenues of $18.6 billion, adjusted EBITDA of $8.1 billion and adjusted free cash flow of approximately $3.1 billion for the twelve months ended Dec. 31, 2010.

As previously announced, the combined company will use the name CenturyLink, although the Qwest brand will continue to be used in former Qwest markets for the next several months. The corporate headquarters of the company will remain in Monroe, La. The company will maintain the headquarters for its Business Markets Group in the Denver metro area, where Qwest’s headquarters were located. In addition, Denver will be the location of one of the company’s six regional headquarters. The other five regional headquarters will be located in Phoenix; Minneapolis; Seattle; Wake Forest, N.C.; and Apopka, Fla.

For more, see this release.

FCC Approves CenturyLink/Qwest Merger

Jesse Ward — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:30:01 +0000

The FCC today approved the merger of CenturyLink Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. In doing so, the commission imposed a series of conditions designed to protection against the risk of harm to competition, and ensure the merged entity will live up to its commitments to significantly expand its network and launch a major broadband adoption program for low-income consumers.

The merger now needs one final state approval from Oregon. The transaction is still on track to close April 1.

Monroe, Louisiana-based CenturyLink offers voice, video, and data services in 33 states, serving approximately 7 million access lines and 2.2 million broadband customers in its region. CenturyLink also operates as a competitive local exchange carrier in certain local and regional markets.

Denver, Colorado-based Qwest operates as a local exchange carrier serving 10.3 million lines in a 14-state region; has 3 million broadband customers; and sells wireless, video, and extensive wholesale services through its subsidiaries. Under the deal, Qwest will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of CenturyLink.

For more, stay tuned to NTCA’s Washington Report (subscription required.)

CenturyLink/Qwest Merger on Track to Close April 1

Jesse Ward — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 19:41:16 +0000

Qwest announced last Friday that it is one step closer to completing its merger with CenturyLink (formerly known as CenturyTel).

A federal judge in Denver has approved a class-action settlement that will dismiss shareholder lawsuits filed against both companies. The judge “indicated that he’ll issue the order next week and it’ll become effective March 17,” said Qwest spokeswoman Diane Reberger.

After they announced plans for the merger last April, more than a dozen lawsuits were filed by shareholders claiming Qwest could have gotten a higher price and should have entertained additional offers. The cases were consolidated and assigned to U.S District Judge Wiley Daniel.

Under terms of the settlement, Qwest and CenturyLink agreed to provide additional disclosures about the merger. The companies also agreed to compensate the plaintiffs for their attorney fees.

With this latest barrier removed, the FCC and state authorities are close to approving the merger. The deal awaits approval in Arizona, Washington, Oregon and Minnesota. Analysts anticipate that it will close by the April 1 target date.

For more, see this website, which was created by Qwest and CenturyLink.

CenturyLink to Resell Verizon Wireless Service

Jesse Ward — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:48:53 +0000

CenturyLink has determined that it needs a wireless play, but instead of constructing its own network the telco announced earlier this week that it plans to resell Verizon Wireless’ network services.

CenturyLink — which is close to wrapping up its acquisition of Qwest, another provider that also resells Verizon Wireless’ services — plans to officially launch the wireless offering sometime this spring.

Under the agreement, CenturyLink will offer its customers Verizon Wireless’ full lineup of devices including smartphones, feature phones and Internet devices such as tablets, netbooks, mobile hotspots and USB modems. In addition, CenturyLink customers will have access to Verizon Wireless’ newly launched 4G LTE network which is available in 38 major metropolitan areas and more than 60 airports, and will be expanded to an additional 140 markets by the end of 2011.

“We believe this wireless agreement will benefit our customers by expanding the portfolio of communications products and services we offer,” said Glen Post, CenturyLink chief executive officer and president. “With this addition, customers will soon have the convenience and advantages of one-stop shopping for their broadband, entertainment, voice and wireless services.”

For more, read the release.

Mid-Atlantic Members Win $1.5M for Last-Mile Broadband

Jesse Ward — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:43:43 +0000

The Mid-Atlantic Broadband Cooperative (MBC), an organization of 55 private sector telecom companies, announced last week that more than $1.5 million has been awarded to its members for last-mile broadband initiatives.

MBC owns and operates an open-access fiber optic backbone network that provides wholesale optical transport services, collocation, dark fiber and tower construction/leasing in rural Virginia.

The monetary awards are 50/50 matching grants, and will enable deployment of broadband services for residential and business customers in unserved communities in Southern Virginia.

The grants were awarded to:

CenturyLink, for an ADSL deployment in 14 digital loop carrier serving areas currently served by dial-up Internet access;
DigitalBridge Communications, for expansion of its existing WiMAX deployment;
Jet Broadband, for high-speed wireless deployment in two targeted areas; and
Telpage, for a broadband wireless deployment.

The grants are funded by the Virginia Tobacco Commission, and are intended to promote economic growth and development in tobacco-dependent communities.

According to MBC, the awards will enable more than 15,660 residential and business customers in the southern Virginia areas to have access to high-speed Internet services, where previously the only option was dial-up Internet access.

Read the release.