Summary Box: CenturyTel to buy Qwest
Summary Box: CenturyTel to buy Qwest, uniting shrinking phone companies
MAKING A CONNECTION: CenturyTel Inc., the country's fifth-largest local-phone company, plans to buy No. 3, Qwest Communications International Inc. Qwest stockholders would get CenturyTel shares that were worth $10.6 billion when the deal was announced Thursday.
WHY NOW: The companies hope that combining their businesses lets them reduce overhead and improve the profit margins in a shrinking industry.
THE CHALLENGE: Neither company has a wireless phone business to balance landline losses.
Copyright 2010  AP News
