( BW)(LA-CENTURYTEL)(CTL) CenturyTel Completes Purchase of Verizon's
Alabama Local Exchange Telephone Business
Business Editors
MONROE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 1, 2002--CenturyTel (NYSE:CTL)
completed the acquisition of approximately 300,000 telephone access
lines in Alabama from Verizon today.
CenturyTel agreed Oct. 22, 2001, to pay Verizon nearly $2.16
billion in cash for its local telephone access lines in Alabama and
Missouri. Together, these purchases comprise the largest acquisition
in CenturyTel's history. The Missouri transaction is expected to be
completed in the third quarter of 2002.
"The Alabama and Missouri transactions will increase CenturyTel's
access line ownership and annual telephone revenues by more than 35
percent," said Glen F. Post, III, president and CEO of CenturyTel.
"CenturyTel's strategy is to cluster our markets geographically to
achieve operational and network efficiencies, and these acquisitions
advance that plan."
CenturyTel plans to release second quarter 2002 earnings results
pre-market opening Thursday, July 25, and host a related conference
call at 10:30 a.m. CDT that day. Interested parties can access the
call via live Webcast over the Company's Web site at
www.centurytel.com or by dialing 800.729.6845 five minutes prior to
the start of the call.
Additional information regarding replay of the conference call can
be obtained at www.centurytel.com CenturyTel, Inc. provides
communications services including local exchange, wireless, long
distance, Internet access and data services to more than three million
customers in 22 states. The company, headquartered in Monroe,
Louisiana, is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the
symbol CTL. CenturyTel is the 8th largest local exchange telephone
company, based on access lines, in the United States. Visit
CenturyTel's corporate Web site at www.centurytel.com
--30--TLM/na*
CONTACT: CenturyTel, Inc.
Media:
Annmarie Sartor, 318/366-2069
annmarie.sartor@centurytel.com
or
Investors:
Tony Davis, 318/388-9525
tony.davis@centurytel.com
KEYWORD: LOUISIANA ALABAMA MISSOURI
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TELECOMMUNICATIONS MERGERS/ACQ
SOURCE: CenturyTel, Inc.
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