Vendor lineage
Lumen, CenturyLink, Level 3 and Global Crossing
A rural Louisiana phone company that ended up owning one of the internet's largest backbones.
This is one company by succession and four or five by history. It was incorporated in 1968 as Central Telephone and Electronics Corporation, renamed Century Telephone Enterprises in 1971, and spent four decades as CenturyTel - a rural local exchange carrier headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, growing by buying other rural carriers. It is now Lumen Technologies, and it operates AS3356.
The rural-carrier era is the least glamorous and most instructive part. Buying small local exchange carriers one at a time is unfashionable, capital-intensive and slow, and by 2008 it had made CenturyTel one of the largest rural operators in the United States - which is to say, large enough to buy things that were much better known than it was.
Embarq followed in 2009, the former Sprint wireline business, itself descended from United Telephone. Sources differ on the price: $5.8B stock-for-stock in one account, roughly $11.6B in another, and the difference is almost certainly whether debt is counted. The merged company took the name CenturyLink.
Qwest came in 2011 for about $12.2B, and Qwest was itself a Bell company by descent - US West, formerly Mountain Bell, serving fourteen western and midwestern states. That made CenturyLink the third largest wireline operator in the country behind Verizon and AT&T.
Then Level 3, completing on 1 November 2017. Announced at $25.6B, commonly reported at around $34B once debt is included. Level 3 was founded in 1985, based in Broomfield, Colorado, and was the largest competitive local exchange carrier in the United States and one of the largest fibre operators anywhere - the company whose autonomous system number, AS3356, appears in more traceroutes than almost any other.
**And Level 3 had itself been assembling.** WilTel, Broadwing, Looking Glass, Progress Telecom, TelCove, TW Telecom in 2014, and Global Crossing in 2011 - which is the entry inside this entry worth reading.
Global Crossing was founded in March 1997 by Gary Winnick and David L. Lee to lay submarine cable, and during the 1999 bubble it was valued at $47B. **It never had a single profitable year.** In 2002 it filed one of the largest bankruptcies in history, its executives were accused of covering up an accounting scandal, and in 2011 Level 3 bought what remained for $3B including the assumption of $1.1B in debt. Its chief executive at the time was John Legere, who later ran T-Mobile.
Global Crossing had also bought Impsat, the Latin American network operator, which is how fibre built for Argentina, Brazil and the region ended up inside a Louisiana rural carrier by way of a Bermudan bankruptcy.
In 2022 Lumen sold its local exchange operations in twenty states to Brightspeed, keeping a western footprint and the fibre business. So the company spent fifty years acquiring rural telephone lines and then sold most of them, having used them to buy a global backbone.
2009 Embarq $5.8B stock-for-stock, or ~$11.6B depending on the source
The former Sprint wireline business, serving eighteen states.
- 1899 United Telephone (origin, not a purchase) — Embarq descended from United Telephone, which became Sprint's local operations before being spun out - so this deal bought a lineage older than the buyer.
The merged company was renamed CenturyLink.
Sources disagree on the figure; both are given rather than one chosen. The gap is most likely debt.
2011 Qwest Communications ~$12.2B
Fourteen western and midwestern states, long-haul fibre and enterprise customers.
- 1984 US West / Mountain Bell (by descent) — Qwest was a Bell company by lineage, having merged with US West in 2000 - itself one of the regional operators created when the Bell System was broken up.
The third largest US wireline operator, behind Verizon and AT&T.
2017 Level 3 Communications $25.6B announced; ~$34B commonly reported with debt
The largest US competitive local exchange carrier and operator of AS3356, one of the internet's principal backbones. Completed 1 November 2017.
- 2011 Global Crossing $3B including $1.1B assumed debt — Valued at $47B in 1999, never profitable in any year, bankrupt in 2002 in one of the largest filings in history, and sold for a fraction of its peak twelve years later. It had itself acquired Impsat, the Latin American operator - which is how regional fibre for Brazil and Argentina entered this lineage. Founded by Gary Winnick and David L. Lee, March 1997.
- 2014 TW Telecom — Metro fibre and Ethernet across US markets, which is where a large part of Lumen's data centre footprint came from.
- 2005 WilTel Communications — One of several long-haul networks Level 3 consolidated during the post-bubble years, when capacity built for 1999 demand was selling for a fraction of its cost.
The combined company became Lumen Technologies, and the backbone is the reason the name is known outside Louisiana.
The two figures reflect equity value versus enterprise value; both appear in reputable coverage.
- Grokipedia: Lumen operating companies - 1968 incorporation as Central Telephone and Electronics, 1971 rename, Embarq at $5.8B closing 1 July 2009, Qwest at $12.2B, the 2022 Brightspeed divestiture
- Wikipedia: Global Crossing - founded March 1997 by Gary Winnick and David L. Lee, $47B valuation in 1999, never profitable, 2002 bankruptcy, acquired by Level 3 on 3 October 2011 for $3B including $1.1B debt
- Wikipedia: Level 3 Communications - founded 1985, Broomfield, largest US CLEC, AS3356, defunct 1 November 2017
- MarketScreener: the Level 3 agreement announced at $25.6B on 31 October 2016
- Inside Towers: the CenturyTel rural-carrier origins in Monroe, Louisiana and the succession through Embarq, Qwest and Level 3