CenturyTel Inc. agreed Thursday to buy Qwest Comunications International Inc. in an all-stock deal valuing Qwest at about $10.6 billion—one of the biggest U.S. telecommunications deals in years.
The merger will unite two of the country’s largest landline phone companies, with operations in some 40 states across the country. It also represents a long-awaited consolidation play for Qwest, a remnant of the regional “Baby Bell” companies that has struggled to stay competitive with the national ascendancy of the wireless operations of AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.