CenturyTel, Inc. is the nation’s 8th largest local exchange telephone company and provides a full range of local, long distance, Internet and broadband services to consumers in 22 states. Included in the S&P 500 Index, CenturyTel is a leading provider of integrated communications services to rural areas and smaller cities in the United States.  The Ohio service area includes a contiguous geographic block of approximately 198 square miles along the southern shores of Lake Erie. CenturyTel serves the communities of Avon, Avon Lake, Sheffield, Sheffield Lake, Amherst, South Amherst, Birmingham, Lorain and Vermilion.  CenturyTel's Ohio fiber backbone network connects all of our major switching hubs, is on a totally SONET compatible platform and utilizes ring-protected diversity. This allows us to provide 95 percent of our customers with access to DSL high-speed Internet service; 100 percent of our customers with access to high-speed digital switching; and 100 percent access to call switching centers with fiber optic connectivity.  CenturyTel recently formed a strategic partnership with EchoStar to provide co-branded CenturyTel|DISH Network satellite television service and also entered into a reseller relationship with Cingular Wireless to provide wireless voice and text messaging. Both relationships will allow CenturyTel to offer a more complete package of services to customers.  The recent acquisition of metro fiber networks in 16 markets will add key markets to CenturyTel’s LightCore footprint. The fiber networks will enable CenturyTel to be a dominant fiber transport provider to smaller cities and rural areas in and near our local exchange and LightCore markets.  CenturyTel employs approximately 193 people in Ohio and paid nearly $5.7 million in taxes in 2004. Consistently supporting the communities it serves, CenturyTel of Ohio contributes more than $60,000 to more than 100 education, economic development, social welfare, health, and cultural programs to the communities where its employees live and work.  Serving customers in mostly rural and small urban areas, CenturyTel continues to focus its efforts on executing strategic initiatives while continuing to position itself as a leading growth company in the communications industry. Providing vital communications services that help customers grow their businesses and communities, CenturyTel provides and markets services that make a positive contribution to the quality of life and economic health of the customers and communities it serves.

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