MONROE, La.-CenturyTel Inc. completed its purchase of approximately 133,000 telephone lines from Verizon Communications in Wisconsin for $364 million in cash in two separate transactions.
The first transactions involved CenturyTel acquiring 70,500 access lines in 42 Wisconsin exchanges for $194 million. The second acquisition, as part of a joint venture with Telephone USA Investments Inc., included an additional 62,900 access lines in 35 Wisconsin exchanges for approximately $170 million.
CenturyTel said 83 percent of the newly acquired properties are covered by its cellular operations, with the remaining 17 percent falling under areas covered by its personal communications services licenses.