CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE:CTL), following its merger with Qwest Communications, has announced plans to invest at least $20 million to improve and expand broadband communications availability and increase connectivity speeds to consumers in New Mexico.
"This investment by CenturyLink to expand broadband services in New Mexico is an effective way for the company to introduce itself to the state," New Mexico Public Regulation Commission chairman Pat Lyons says. "CenturyLink is New Mexico's leading communications provider now that its merger with Qwest is complete. We look forward to the additional resources and opportunities that this increased Internet connectivity made possible by CenturyLink will provide the people of New Mexico."
"As a result of CenturyLink's merger with Qwest, the combined company now has the financial strength, national breadth, and local depth to provide a compelling array of broadband products and high-bandwidth services in New Mexico," explains Valerie Dodd, vice president and general manager for CenturyLink in New Mexico.
Dodd and her Albuquerque-based local operations team are studying the communities CenturyLink serves in the state to determine where to deploy the expanded broadband infrastructure that the new initiative will fund. CenturyLink will implement the expanded broadband program over the next several years.