CenturyLink Behind Schedule on Embarq Integration

CWA Telecommunications Vice President Jimmy Gurganus submitted testimony to the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, outlining potential risks surrounding the proposed CenturyLink-Qwest Communications acquisition. Gurganus will testify before the Minnesota PUC in October.

CWA represents about 15,000 workers at Qwest and about 3,700 at CenturyLink.

CenturyLink's own documents show that the company is concerned that it might not be able to "integrate successfully the businesses of CenturyLink and Qwest and realize the anticipated benefits of the merger," Gurganus said.

CenturyLink already is experiencing problems in integrating systems from Embarq, which CenturyLink acquired in 2008. "If these issues are not successfully addressed with the former Embarq operations, then the much larger task of integrating Qwest has a great potential to cause serious damage to CenturyLink and the customers it serves," he said.

CWA members at Qwest and CenturyLink are contacting their state and local officials, raising concerns about jobs, service quality, and the ability of CenturyLink to provide 21st Century communications to customers across Qwest's 13 state territory.

At a special CenturyLink shareholders meeting Aug. 24 in Monroe, La., Gurganus also pointed out that the Embarq systems were not being properly integrated into the CenturyLink system.

Click here for the latest developments.