CenturyLink selected as network provider for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

MONROE, La., Dec. 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) has signed a five-year contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide data networking products to the Commonwealth's agencies, commissions, councils, bureaus, authorities and boards. As part of the terms of the contract, CenturyLink is collaborating with Comcast Business to provide high-performance network services and last mile connectivity to end users. This is another phase in service delivery associated with the contract award announced in September.

Under the terms of the agreement, a full suite of data networking products and services will be provided, including:

• Microwave Data Access
• Fixed Satellite Data Access
• Ethernet
• MPLS/IP VPN
• High-Speed Cellular Access
• Business Class Broadband
• DS1
• Bandwidth on Demand
• Emerging Technologies
• Ethernet
• Virtual Private LANs
• Managed Network Services
• Private Line

"CenturyLink is an established services provider to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This collaboration with Comcast Business will be instrumental in the delivery of safe, secure, reliable network solutions to our Commonwealth agencies, boards and departments," said Ken Hess, deputy secretary, procurement, The Pennsylvania Department of General Services.

"Municipalities are engaged in a constant struggle to deliver high-performance networking services to their staff and residents while being cognizant of costs. An increasing number of agencies are finding that partnering with a service provider who has existing technology infrastructure lets them to do this quickly and cost-effectively," said Steve Hackley, senior vice president, Comcast Business Services, northeast division. "Our collaboration with CenturyLink allows us to offer additional fiber, coax and wireless solutions so the commonwealth's agencies, commissions, councils, bureaus, authorities and boards have the critical last mile of connectivity."

"This is a natural extension of the plan we laid out with the Commonwealth to provide the latest data networking products and services to these critical agencies. Our collaboration with Comcast Business enables these organizations to increase bandwidth while taking advantage of innovative new solutions," said Mike Zody, CenturyLink, vice president and general manager, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Facts:

• CenturyLink completed its acquisition of Level 3 Communications on Nov. 1, 2017
• CenturyLink has been serving the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for more than 20 years
• CenturyLink operates more than 7,700 fiber route miles in Pennsylvania, with more than 2,200 on-net buildings
• The contract award allows these entities to buy these data networking services from CenturyLink
• The award term is five years
• In 2015, Level 3, now CenturyLink, was awarded a contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to expand its current Master IT Services Invitation to Qualify program contract to include security, network and telecommunications services
• In August 2017, Level 3, now CenturyLink, was awarded a contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to provide Enterprise Network Services with a term of five years and a contract value of $79 million
• CenturyLink's global network includes approximately 450,000 fiber route miles connecting more than 100,000 on-net buildings
• Comcast Business has more than 8,000 employees dedicated to business services and supports more than 2.1 million business customers nationwide
• Comcast Business provides more than 600 datacenter connections, four Network Operations Centers available 24/7/365, and over 150,000 fiber route miles in its national network

About CenturyLink
CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is the second largest U.S. communications provider to global enterprise customers. With customers in more than 60 countries and an intense focus on the customer experience, CenturyLink strives to be the world's best networking company by solving customers' increased demand for reliable and secure connections. The company also serves as its customers' trusted partner, helping them manage increased network and IT complexity and providing managed network and cyber security solutions that help protect their business.

Forward Looking Statements
Except for historical and factual information, the matters set forth in this release and other of our oral or written statements identified by words such as "estimates," "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "plans," "intends," and similar expressions are forward-looking statements as defined by the federal securities laws, and are subject to the "safe harbor" protections thereunder. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are based on current expectations only, are inherently speculative, and are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control. Actual events and results may differ materially from those anticipated, estimated, projected, or implied by us if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if our underlying assumptions prove incorrect.

Factors that could affect actual results include but are not limited to: the effects of competition from a wide variety of competitive providers, including decreased demand for our legacy offerings and increased pricing pressures; the effects of new, emerging or competing technologies, including those that could make our products less desirable or obsolete; the effects of ongoing changes in the regulation of the communications industry, including the outcome of regulatory or judicial proceedings relating to intercarrier compensation, interconnection obligations, access charges, universal service, broadband deployment, data protection and net neutrality; our ability to timely realize the anticipated benefits of our recently-completed acquisition of Level 3, including our ability to attain anticipated cost savings, to use Level 3's net operating losses in the amounts projected, to retain key personnel and to avoid unanticipated integration disruptions; our ability to effectively adjust to changes in the communications industry and changes in the composition of our markets and product mix; possible changes in the demand for our products and services, including our ability to effectively respond to increased demand for high-speed broadband service; our ability to successfully maintain the quality and profitability of our existing product and service offerings, to provision them efficiently to our customers, and to introduce new offerings on a timely and cost-effective basis; the adverse impact on our business and network from possible equipment failures, service outages, security breaches or similar events impacting our network; our ability to generate cash flows sufficient to fund our financial commitments and objectives, including our debt repayments, capital expenditures, operating costs, periodic share repurchases, dividends, pension contributions and other benefits payments; changes in our operating plans, corporate strategies, dividend payment plans or other capital allocation plans, whether based upon changes in our cash flows, cash requirements, financial performance, financial position, market conditions or otherwise; our ability to effectively retain and hire key personnel and to successfully negotiate collective bargaining agreements on reasonable terms without work stoppages; increases in the costs of our pension, health, post-employment or other benefits, including those caused by changes in markets, interest rates, mortality rates, demographics or regulations; adverse changes in our access to credit markets on favorable terms, whether caused by changes in our financial position, lower debt credit ratings, unstable markets or otherwise; our ability to maintain favorable relations with our key business partners, customers, suppliers, vendors, landlords and financial institutions; our ability to effectively manage our network buildout project and our other expansion opportunities; our ability to collect our receivables from financially troubled customers; any adverse developments in legal or regulatory proceedings involving us; changes in tax, communications, pension, healthcare or other laws or regulations, in governmental support programs, or in general government funding levels; the effects of changes in accounting policies or practices, including potential future impairment charges; the effects of terrorism, adverse weather or other natural or man-made disasters; the effects of more general factors such as changes in interest rates, in operating costs, in general market, labor, economic or geo-political conditions, or in public policy; and other risks referenced from time to time in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). For all the reasons set forth above and in our SEC filings, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any of our forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any of our forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events or developments, changed circumstances, or otherwise. Furthermore, any information about our intentions contained in any of our forward-looking statements reflects our intentions as of the date of such forward-looking statement, and is based upon, among other things, existing regulatory, technological, industry, competitive, economic and market conditions, and our assumptions as of such date. We may change our intentions, strategies or plans without notice at any time and for any reason.

Contact Information

Media:
D. Nikki Wheeler
+1 720-888-0560
+1 303-514-2012
[email protected]

SOURCE CenturyLink, Inc.