CenturyLink looking to grow through public-private partnerships

CenturyLink is negotiating partnerships with local communities to expand its fiber network. The approach signals an attempt by the company to use public-private partnerships to being high-speed Internet to unserved or underserved parts of the country, in this case in Colorado. A CenturyLink vice president wouldn’t name specific locations, but said that “cities councils are going back to their constituents to see if this is how they want to go. It could serve as a good model to bring up these areas,” he said.

Public-private partnerships is the company’s most recent attempt to grow in the dynamic telecom industry. Last year, CenturyLink announced an agreement to buy Level 3 Communications for $34 billion, turning CenturyLink into the nation’s second largest US carrier serving business customers. And earlier this year, the company began testing a new over-the-top streaming video service to attract cord-cutters.

Links:

CenturyLink eyes partnerships for rural broadband and rolls out price-for-life (Denver Business Journal, Sept. 27, 2016)

CenturyLink to buy Level 3 Communications for $34 billion (Speed Matters, Oct. 31, 2016)

CenturyLink testing OTT streaming TV service (Speed Matters, Feb. 17, 2017)