A merger between CenturyLink Inc. and Qwest Communications International Inc. was completed Friday, creating a communications company with a geographic coverage of 681,000 square miles, second only to AT&T. 
Friday's merger will more than double the size of CenturyLink. It will now have local operations in 37 states and enterprise and long-distance business in all 50 states.
Through the merger, CEO Glen Post said the company gained access to opportunities with large businesses and Fortune 500 companies and created a "national footprint."
The company's headquarters will remain in Monroe with Post as its CEO, and its economic impact on the area will likely increase.
"There is an opportunity to add jobs here," he said. "Additionally, there will be an influx of suppliers and people who work with us as contract workers."
Federal regulators approved CenturyLink Inc.'s acquisition of Qwest on the condition that the combined phone company provide low-cost broadband Internet access and computers to poor households.
CenturyLink also is committing to doubling the number of homes and businesses that can get fast broadband, with speeds of 12 megabits per second or more, in Denver-based Qwest's service area, and tripling the number that can get ultrafast speeds of 40 megabits or more.
CenturyLink employs about 1,400 at its Monroe headquarters on U.S. 165 North with an annual payroll exceeding $70 million. The company is one of only three Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in Louisiana. The others are Entergy Louisiana and Shaw Group.
Specializing in RELOCATION, I am ready to help CenturyLink transferees and new employees find a home and get settled in Monroe. We have a pretty friendly little town, and I think you'll like it here! Please don't hesitate to call on me if you need any kind of local information.
(Thanks to Barbara Leader at The News Star for this article.)
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