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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Public Service Commission Tuesday approved the pending merger between Qwest Communications and CenturyLink Inc. As part of the approval process, the combined company committed to investing a minimum of $25 million in broadband infrastructure in Utah over five years.
Upon completion of the merger in the first half of 2011, the combined company will serve more than 600,000 access lines throughout the state.
"This approval recognizes the benefits of our merger and that it is in the best interest of our residential and business customers, as well as our employees, throughout Utah," said Jerry Fenn, Qwest Utah president.
The proposed merger was approved by 17 states, including Utah and the District of Columbia. The companies also must receive approval from four additional states and the Federal Communications Commission. CenturyLink and Qwest already have reached agreements with commission staffs in Arizona, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington.
"Gaining the Utah commission's approval is another key milestone toward completing our merger," said Kenny Wyatt, CenturyLink's South Central Region president. "We are looking forward to bringing a wider variety of communications services and greater broadband availability to Utahns in the future than either company could offer alone."
The Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission cleared the transaction in July after determining there were no antitrust concerns, a release stated.
As of Sept. 30, 2010, CenturyLink served approximately 2.4 million broadband customers and 588,000 satellite video subscribers. Qwest served approximately 2.9 million broadband customers, 960,000 video subscribers and more than one million wireless customers.
The combination will create a 180,000-route-mile national fiber network, which will increase the combined company's scale and enable the delivery of a diverse array of service and products.
For more information, visit centurylinkqwestmerger.com.
E-mail: jlee@desnews.com.
