CenturyTel Acquires Midwestern Fiber Optic Business

MONROE, La., June 11 -- CenturyTel Inc. has completed its previously announced $38 million purchase of the operating assets of Digital Teleport Inc. (DTI), a fiber optic transport business based in St. Louis. CenturyTel will operate the business under the name LightCore, a CenturyTel company.

The LightCore acquisition should provide operational synergies and a new source of revenue for CenturyTel over the next three years, CenturyTel said. It said it does not expect to make substantial changes to LightCore's operations.

LightCore's fiber optic network spans 5,700 total route miles; 3,200 of those are in portions of Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

For more information, visit: www.centurytel.com