CenturyTel

CenturyTel, Inc. formerly named Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. was a United States telecommunications firm, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. A member of the S&P 500 index, the company operated as a local exchange carrier and Internet service provider in rural markets in 26 states, and was the eighth-largest local exchange carrier in the U.S. in terms of lines served. It was also a reseller of long distance service. Since its founding, it grew in size by acquisitions. In 1998, it purchased 89,000 access lines and 19 exchanges in 21 northern Wisconsin communities from Ameritech. The... affected customers had formerly been served by Wisconsin Bell. Ameritech's directory publishing operations serving those customers were also acquired. From 2000-2002, CenturyTel acquired Verizon's GTE assets in Missouri and Alabama. As of mid-2006 more than 52% of its customers had the choice of cable broadband and 19% had the choice of cable Voice over Internet Protocol telephone services. CenturyTel operated a fiber optic transport system connecting cities in 16 states in the central United States.
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