Edgar Filing: CENTURYLINK, INC

Document

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q



ý	QUARTERLY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the quarterly period ended September 30, 2016



o	TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission File No. 001-7784

CENTURYLINK, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)




Louisiana (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)	72-0651161 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
100 CenturyLink Drive, Monroe, Louisiana (Address of principal executive offices)	71203 (Zip Code)

(318) 388-9000

(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ý No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (Section 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes ý No o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer" and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.



Large accelerated filer ý	Accelerated filer o	Non-accelerated filer o (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)	Smaller reporting company o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). Yes o No ý

On October 27, 2016, there were 546,690,239 shares of common stock outstanding.

TABLE OF CONTENTS




Part I.	Financial Information:
Item 1.	Financial Statements
	Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited)	3
	Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Unaudited)	4
	Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited)	5
	Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited)	6
	Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity (Unaudited)	7
	Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements (Unaudited)*	8
Item 2.	Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	24
Item 3.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	45
Item 4.	Controls and Procedures	45
Part II.	Other Information:
Item 1.	Legal Proceedings	46
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	46
Item 2.	Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds	68
Item 6.	Exhibits	69
Signature		81

* All references to "Notes" in this quarterly report refer to these Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

PART I—FINANCIAL INFORMATION

ITEM 1. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(UNAUDITED)



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts and shares in thousands)
OPERATING REVENUES	$	4,382		4,554		13,181		13,424
OPERATING EXPENSES
Cost of services and products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)	1,996			1,993		5,845		5,863
Selling, general and administrative	796			857		2,439		2,571
Depreciation and amortization	995			1,048		2,958		3,136
Total operating expenses	3,787			3,898		11,242		11,570
OPERATING INCOME	595			656		1,939		1,854
OTHER (EXPENSE) INCOME
Interest expense	(327		)	(329	)	(998	)	(984	)
Other (expense) income, net	(19		)	2		5		16
Total other expense, net	(346		)	(327	)	(993	)	(968	)
INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE	249			329		946		886
Income tax expense	97			124		362		346
NET INCOME	$	152		205		584		540
BASIC AND DILUTED EARNINGS PER COMMON SHARE
BASIC	$	0.28		0.37		1.08		0.97
DILUTED	$	0.28		0.37		1.08		0.97
DIVIDENDS DECLARED PER COMMON SHARE	$	0.54		0.54		1.62		1.62
WEIGHTED-AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING
BASIC	539,806			554,897		539,411		558,502
DILUTED	540,917			555,156		540,493		559,293

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(UNAUDITED)



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions)
NET INCOME	$	152		205		584		540
OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME:
Items related to employee benefit plans:
Change in net actuarial loss, net of $(16), $(16), $(49) and $(46) tax	28			24		82		74
Change in net prior service costs, net of $(1), $(3), $(3) and $(8) tax	2			4		6		12
Foreign currency translation adjustment and other, net of $—, $—, $— and $— tax	(4		)	(10	)	(9	)	(10	)
Other comprehensive income	26			18		79		76
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME	$	178		223		663		616

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(UNAUDITED)



	As of September 30, 2016			As of December 31, 2015
	(Dollars in millions and shares in thousands)
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents	$	140		126
Accounts receivable, less allowance of $173 and $152	1,957			1,943
Other	631			581
Total current assets	2,728			2,650
NET PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Property, plant and equipment	40,304			38,785
Accumulated depreciation	(22,464		)	(20,716	)
Net property, plant and equipment	17,840			18,069
GOODWILL AND OTHER ASSETS
Goodwill	20,766			20,742
Customer relationships, less accumulated amortization of $6,322 and $5,648	3,254			3,928
Other intangible assets, less accumulated amortization of $1,980 and $1,798	1,518			1,555
Other, net	690			660
Total goodwill and other assets	26,228			26,885
TOTAL ASSETS	$	46,796		47,604
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Current maturities of long-term debt	$	1,534		1,503
Accounts payable	1,036			968
Accrued expenses and other liabilities
Salaries and benefits	548			602
Income and other taxes	330			318
Interest	320			250
Other	255			220
Advance billings and customer deposits	710			743
Total current liabilities	4,733			4,604
LONG-TERM DEBT	18,184			18,722
DEFERRED CREDITS AND OTHER LIABILITIES
Deferred income taxes, net	3,653			3,569
Benefit plan obligations, net	5,228			5,511
Other	1,106			1,138
Total deferred credits and other liabilities	9,987			10,218
COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES (Note 8)
STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Preferred stock—non-redeemable, $25.00 par value, authorized 2,000 shares, issued and outstanding 7 and 7 shares	—			—
Common stock, $1.00 par value, authorized 1,600,000 and 1,600,000 shares, issued and outstanding 546,690 and 543,800 shares	547			544
Additional paid-in capital	15,121			15,178
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(1,855		)	(1,934	)
Retained earnings	79			272
Total stockholders' equity	13,892			14,060
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY	$	46,796		47,604

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(UNAUDITED)



	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015
	(Dollars in millions)
OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Net income	$	584		540
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization	2,958			3,136
Impairment of assets	1			9
Deferred income taxes	32			93
Provision for uncollectible accounts	144			128
Net long-term debt issuance costs and premium amortization	2			(3	)
Net loss on early retirement of debt	27			—
Share-based compensation	60			57
Changes in current assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable	(158		)	(91	)
Accounts payable	52			(84	)
Accrued income and other taxes	1			250
Other current assets and liabilities, net	(24		)	123
Retirement benefits	(143		)	(134	)
Changes in other noncurrent assets and liabilities, net	(41		)	(54	)
Other, net	17			(14	)
Net cash provided by operating activities	3,512			3,956
INVESTING ACTIVITIES
Payments for property, plant and equipment and capitalized software	(2,010		)	(2,039	)
Cash paid for acquisitions	(24		)	(4	)
Proceeds from sale of property	22			29
Other, net	—			(8	)
Net cash used in investing activities	(2,012		)	(2,022	)
FINANCING ACTIVITIES
Net proceeds from issuance of long-term debt	2,161			990
Payments of long-term debt	(2,436		)	(535	)
Net payments on credit facility and revolving line of credit	(325		)	(725	)
Dividends paid	(876		)	(905	)
Proceeds from issuance of common stock	5			11
Repurchase of common stock and shares withheld to satisfy tax withholdings	(15		)	(541	)
Other, net	—			(2	)
Net cash used in financing activities	(1,486		)	(1,707	)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents	14			227
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period	126			128
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	$	140		355
Supplemental cash flow information:
Income taxes paid, net	$	(344	)	(54	)
Interest paid (net of capitalized interest of $38 and $41)	$	(922	)	(914	)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

(UNAUDITED)



	Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015
	(Dollars in millions)
COMMON STOCK
Balance at beginning of period	$	544		569
Issuance of common stock through dividend reinvestment, incentive and benefit plans	3			2
Repurchase of common stock	—			(17	)
Balance at end of period	547			554
ADDITIONAL PAID-IN CAPITAL
Balance at beginning of period	15,178			16,324
Issuance of common stock through dividend reinvestment, incentive and benefit plans	5			9
Repurchase of common stock	—			(518	)
Shares withheld to satisfy tax withholdings	(15		)	(18	)
Share-based compensation and other, net	59			58
Dividends declared	(106		)	(395	)
Balance at end of period	15,121			15,460
ACCUMULATED OTHER COMPREHENSIVE LOSS
Balance at beginning of period	(1,934		)	(2,017	)
Other comprehensive income	79			76
Balance at end of period	(1,855		)	(1,941	)
RETAINED EARNINGS
Balance at beginning of period	272			147
Net income	584			540
Dividends declared	(777		)	(510	)
Balance at end of period	79			177
TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY	$	13,892		14,250

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(UNAUDITED)

References in the Notes to "CenturyLink," "we," "us" and "our" refer to CenturyLink, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, unless the content otherwise requires and except in Note 2, where such references refer solely to CenturyLink, Inc.

(1) Basis of Presentation

General

We are an integrated communications company engaged primarily in providing an array of services to our residential and business customers. Our communications services include local and long-distance voice, broadband, Multi-Protocol Label Switching ("MPLS"), private line (including special access), Ethernet, colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), data integration, video, network, public access, Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP"), information technology and other ancillary services.

Our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2015, which was derived from our audited consolidated financial statements, and our unaudited interim consolidated financial statements provided herein have been prepared in accordance with the instructions for Form 10-Q. Certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America have been condensed or omitted pursuant to rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"); however, in our opinion, the disclosures made are adequate to make the information presented not misleading. We believe that these consolidated financial statements include all normal recurring adjustments necessary to fairly present the results for the interim periods. The consolidated results of operations for the first nine months of the year are not necessarily indicative of the consolidated results of operations that might be expected for the entire year, and the net cash provided by operating activities for the first nine months of the year, in particular, may not be indicative of the net cash that will be provided by operating activities in the last three months of the year. These consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include our accounts and the accounts of our subsidiaries. Intercompany amounts and transactions with our consolidated subsidiaries have been eliminated.

To simplify the overall presentation of our consolidated financial statements, we report immaterial amounts attributable to noncontrolling interests in certain of our subsidiaries as follows: (i) income attributable to noncontrolling interests in other (expense) income, net, (ii) equity attributable to noncontrolling interests in additional paid-in capital and (iii) cash flows attributable to noncontrolling interests in other, net financing activities.

We pay dividends out of retained earnings to the extent we have retained earnings on the date the dividend is declared. If the dividend is in excess of our retained earnings on the declaration date, then the excess is drawn from our additional paid-in capital.

We reclassified certain prior period amounts to conform to the current period presentation, including the categorization of our revenues and our segment reporting. See Note 7—Segment Information for additional information. These changes had no impact on total operating revenues, total operating expenses or net income for any period.

Connect America Fund

In 2015, we accepted funding from the Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC") Connect America Fund ("CAF") of approximately $500 million per year for six years to fund the deployment of voice and broadband capable infrastructure for approximately 1.2 million rural households and businesses in 33 states under the CAF Phase 2 high-cost support program. The funding from the CAF Phase 2 support program in these 33 states will substantially supplant funding from the interstate Universal Service Fund ("USF") high-cost program that we previously utilized to support voice services in high-cost rural markets. In late 2015, we began receiving these support payments from the FCC under the new CAF Phase 2 support program, which included monthly support payments at a higher rate than under the interstate USF support program. We received a substantial one-time transitional payment of $127 million from the FCC in the third quarter of 2015, of which $112 million was attributable to the first six months of 2015. The transitional payment was designed to align the prior USF payments with the new CAF Phase 2 payments for the full year 2015. Consequently, we do not expect funding from the CAF Phase 2 support program (including the prior USF funding) to materially change our other operating revenues for the full year 2016 when compared to the full year 2015.

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Financial Instruments

On June 16, 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") 2016-13, "Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments" ("ASU 2016-13"). The primary impact of ASU 2016-13 for us is a change in the model for the recognition of credit losses related to our financial instruments from an incurred loss model, which recognized credit losses only if it was probable that a loss had been incurred, to an expected loss model, which requires our management team to estimate the total credit losses expected on the portfolio of financial instruments. We are currently reviewing the requirements of the standard and evaluating the impact on our consolidated financial statements.

We are required to adopt the provisions of ASU 2016-13 effective January 1, 2020, but could elect to early adopt the provisions as of January 1, 2019. We expect to recognize the impacts of adopting ASU 2016-13 through a cumulative adjustment to retained earnings as of the date of adoption.

Share-based Compensation

On March 30, 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-09, “Improvement to Employee Share-Based Payment Accounting” (“ASU 2016-09”). ASU 2016-09 modifies the accounting and associated income tax accounting for share-based compensation in order to reduce the cost and complexity associated with current generally accepted accounting principles. ASU 2016-09 is effective as of January 1, 2017, but early adoption may be elected. ASU 2016-09 includes different transition requirements for the different changes implemented, including some provisions which allow retrospective application. We will implement this new standard on its effective date, but we have not determined if we will retrospectively apply the requirements when allowed.

The primary provisions of ASU 2016-09 that we expect will affect our financial statements are: 1) a reclassification of the tax effect associated with the difference between the expense recognized for share-based payments and the associated tax deduction from additional paid-in capital to income tax expense; 2) a reclassification of the tax effect associated with the difference between compensation expense and associated deduction from financing cash flow to operating cash flow; and 3) an optional accounting policy election to account for forfeitures of share-based payment grants as they occur as opposed to our current policy of estimating the forfeitures on the grant date. Although these provisions would not have had a material impact on our previously-issued financial statements, we cannot provide any assurance regarding their future impacts. Adoption of ASU 2016-09 may increase the volatility of income tax expense and cash flow from operating activities.

Leases

On February 25, 2016, the FASB issued ASU 2016-02, “Leases” (“ASU 2016-02”). The core principle of ASU 2016-02 will require lessees to present right-of-use assets and lease liabilities on their balance sheets for operating leases, which are currently not reflected on their balance sheets.

ASU 2016-02 is effective for annual and interim periods beginning January 1, 2019. Early adoption of ASU 2016-02 is permitted. Upon adoption of ASU 2016-02, we are required to recognize and measure leases at the beginning of the earliest period presented in our consolidated financial statements using a modified retrospective approach. The modified retrospective approach includes a number of optional practical expedients that we may elect to apply. We have not yet decided when we will adopt ASU 2016-02 or which practical expedient options we will elect.

We are currently evaluating our existing lease accounting systems to determine whether our current systems will support the new accounting requirements or if upgrades or new systems will be required, and we are in the process of developing an implementation plan. We are also currently evaluating and assessing the impact ASU 2016-02 will have on us and our consolidated financial statements. As of the date of this report, we cannot provide any estimate of the impact of adopting ASU 2016-02.

Revenue Recognition

On May 28, 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“ASU 2014-09”). ASU 2014-09 replaces virtually all existing generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) on revenue recognition and replaces them with a principles-based approach for determining revenue recognition using a new five step model. The core principle of ASU 2014-09 is that an entity should recognize revenue to depict the transfer of promised goods or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the entity expects to be entitled in exchange for those goods or services. ASU 2014-09 also includes new accounting principles related to the deferral and amortization of contract acquisition and fulfillment costs. We currently do not defer any contract acquisition costs and we defer contract fulfillment costs only up to the extent of any revenue deferred.

On July 9, 2015, the FASB approved the deferral of the effective date of ASU 2014-09 by one year until January 1, 2018, which is the date we plan to adopt this standard. ASU 2014-09 may be adopted by applying the provisions of this standard on a retrospective basis to the periods included in the financial statements or on a modified retrospective basis which would result in the recognition of a cumulative effect of adopting ASU 2014-09 in the first quarter of 2018. We have not yet decided which implementation method we will adopt. We have completed our initial assessment of our business and systems requirements and we are currently developing and implementing a new revenue recognition system to comply with the requirements of ASU 2014-09. We continue to work on developing estimates of the impact of ASU 2014-09 on the timing of our revenue recognition but cannot currently provide a reasonably accurate estimate of its impact.

(2) Long-Term Debt and Credit Facilities

Long-term debt, including unamortized discounts and premiums and unamortized debt issuance costs, consisting of borrowings by CenturyLink, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries, including Qwest Corporation, Qwest Capital Funding, Inc. and Embarq Corporation and its subsidiaries ("Embarq"), were as follows:



	Interest Rates	Maturities	As of September 30, 2016			As of December 31, 2015
			(Dollars in millions)
CenturyLink, Inc.
Senior notes	5.150% - 7.650%	2017 - 2042	$	8,975		7,975
Credit facility and revolving line of credit⁽¹⁾	2.274% - 4.250%	2019	85			410
Term loan	2.280%	2019	341			358
Subsidiaries
Qwest Corporation
Senior notes	6.125% - 7.750%	2017 - 2056	7,259			7,229
Term loan	2.280%	2025	100			100
Qwest Capital Funding, Inc.
Senior notes	6.500% - 7.750%	2018 - 2031	981			981
Embarq Corporation and subsidiaries
Senior note	7.995%	2036	1,485			2,669
First mortgage bonds	7.125% - 8.770%	2017 - 2025	228			232
Other	9.000%	2019	150			150
Capital lease and other obligations	Various	Various	441			425
Unamortized discounts, net			(131		)	(125	)
Unamortized debt issuance costs			(196		)	(179	)
Total long-term debt			19,718			20,225
Less current maturities			(1,534		)	(1,503	)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities			$	18,184		18,722

______________________________________________________________________


⁽¹⁾	The aggregate amount outstanding on our Credit Facility and revolving line of credit borrowings at September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015 was $85 million and $410 million, respectively, with a weighted-average interest rate of 2.507% and 2.756%, respectively. These amounts change on a regular basis.

New Issuances

On August 22, 2016, Qwest Corporation issued $978 million aggregate principal amount of 6.5% Notes due 2056, including $128 million principal amount that was sold pursuant to an over-allotment option, in exchange for net proceeds, after deducting underwriting discounts and other expenses, of $946 million. All of the 6.5% Notes are unsecured obligations and may be redeemed by Qwest Corporation, in whole or in part, on or after September 1, 2021, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date.

On April 6, 2016, CenturyLink, Inc. issued $1 billion aggregate principal amount of 7.5% Notes due 2024, in exchange for net proceeds, after deducting underwriting discounts and other expenses, of $988 million. All of the 7.5% Notes are unsecured obligations and may be redeemed by CenturyLink, Inc., in whole or in part, on or after January 1, 2024, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. At any time before January 1, 2024, the Notes are redeemable, in whole or in part, at CenturyLink, Inc.'s option, at a redemption price equal to the greater of 100% of the principal amount of the Notes to be redeemed or the sum of the present values of the remaining scheduled payments of principal and interest on the Notes to be redeemed, discounted to the redemption date in the manner described in the Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. In addition, at any time on or prior to April 1, 2019, CenturyLink, Inc. may redeem up to 35% of the aggregate principal amount of the Notes at a redemption price of 107.5% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date, with the net proceeds of certain equity offerings. Under certain circumstances, CenturyLink, Inc. will be required to make an offer to repurchase the Notes at a price of 101% of the aggregate principal amount plus accrued and unpaid interest to the repurchase date.

On January 29, 2016, Qwest Corporation issued $235 million aggregate principal amount of 7% Notes due 2056, in exchange for net proceeds, after deducting underwriting discounts and other expenses, of $227 million. All of the 7% Notes are unsecured obligations and may be redeemed by Qwest Corporation, in whole or in part, on or after February 1, 2021, at a redemption price equal to 100% of the principal amount redeemed plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date.

Repayments

On September 19, 2016, a subsidiary of Embarq Corporation redeemed all of the less than $4 million of its 8.77% Notes due 2017, which resulted in an immaterial loss.

On September 15, 2016, Qwest Corporation redeemed $287 million of its 7.5% Notes due 2051, which resulted in a loss of $9 million.

On August 29, 2016, Qwest Corporation redeemed all $661 million of its 7.375% Notes due 2051, which resulted in a loss of $18 million.

On June 1, 2016, Embarq Corporation paid at maturity the $1.184 billion principal amount and accrued and unpaid interest due under its 7.082% Notes.

On May 2, 2016, Qwest Corporation paid at maturity the $235 million principal amount and accrued and unpaid interest due under its 8.375% Notes.

Covenants

As of September 30, 2016, we believe we were in compliance with the provisions and covenants contained in our Credit Facility and other material debt agreements.

(3) Severance and Leased Real Estate

Periodically, we have reductions in our workforce and have accrued liabilities for the related severance costs. These workforce reductions resulted primarily from the progression or completion of our post-acquisition integration plans, increased competitive pressures, cost reduction initiatives, process improvements through automation and reduced workload demands due to the loss of customers purchasing certain services.

We report severance liabilities within accrued expenses and other liabilities - salaries and benefits in our consolidated balance sheets and report severance expenses in selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of operations. As noted in Note 7—Segment Information, we do not allocate these severance expenses to our segments.

We have recognized liabilities to reflect our estimates of the fair values of the existing lease obligations for real estate which we have ceased using, net of estimated sublease rentals. Our fair value estimates were determined using discounted cash flow methods. We recognize expense to reflect accretion of the discounted liabilities and periodically we adjust the expense when our actual subleasing experience differs from our initial estimates. We report the current portion of liabilities for ceased-use real estate leases in accrued expenses and other liabilities - other and report the noncurrent portion in deferred credits and other liabilities - other in our consolidated balance sheets. We report the related expenses in selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of operations. At September 30, 2016, the current and noncurrent portions of our leased real estate accrual were $8 million and $61 million, respectively. The remaining lease terms range from 0.1 to 9.2 years, with a weighted-average of 8.0 years.

Changes in our accrued liabilities for severance expenses and leased real estate were as follows:



	Severance			Real Estate
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at December 31, 2015	$	14		80
Accrued to expense	25			3
Payments, net	(30		)	(16	)
Reversals and adjustments	—			2
Balance at September 30, 2016	$	9		69

(4) Employee Benefits

Net periodic (income) expense for our qualified and non-qualified pension plans included the following components:



	Pension Plans
	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Service cost	$	16		20		48		62
Interest cost	107			142		321		425
Expected return on plan assets	(183		)	(224	)	(550	)	(673	)
Recognition of prior service (credit) cost	(2		)	1		(6	)	4
Recognition of actuarial loss	44			40		131		120
Net periodic pension benefit income	$	(18	)	(21	)	(56	)	(62	)

Net periodic expense (income) for our post-retirement benefit plans included the following components:



	Post-Retirement Benefit Plans
	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Service cost	$	4		6		14		18
Interest cost	29			35		84		105
Expected return on plan assets	(2		)	(6	)	(6	)	(16	)
Recognition of prior service cost	5			6		15		16
Net periodic post-retirement benefit expense	$	36		41		107		123

We report net periodic benefit (income) expense for our qualified pension, non-qualified pension and post-retirement benefit plans in cost of services and products and selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of operations.

Benefits paid by our qualified pension plan are paid through a trust that holds all plan assets. Based on current laws and circumstances, we do not expect any contributions to be required for our qualified pension plan during the remainder of 2016. However, we made a voluntary contribution to the trust of $100 million during the third quarter of 2016.

(5) Earnings Per Common Share

Basic and diluted earnings per common share for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015 were calculated as follows:



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts, shares in thousands)
Income (Numerator):
Net income	$	152		205		584		540
Earnings applicable to non-vested restricted stock	—			—		—		—
Net income applicable to common stock for computing basic earnings per common share	152			205		584		540
Net income as adjusted for purposes of computing diluted earnings per common share	$	152		205		584		540
Shares (Denominator):
Weighted-average number of shares:
Outstanding during period	546,310			559,991		545,715		563,391
Non-vested restricted stock	(6,504		)	(5,094	)	(6,304	)	(4,889	)
Weighted-average shares outstanding for computing basic earnings per common share	539,806			554,897		539,411		558,502
Incremental common shares attributable to dilutive securities:
Shares issuable under convertible securities	10			10		10		10
Shares issuable under incentive compensation plans	1,101			249		1,072		781
Number of shares as adjusted for purposes of computing diluted earnings per common share	540,917			555,156		540,493		559,293
Basic earnings per common share	$	0.28		0.37		1.08		0.97
Diluted earnings per common share	$	0.28		0.37		1.08		0.97

Our calculation of diluted earnings per common share excludes shares of common stock that are issuable upon exercise of stock options when the exercise price is greater than the average market price of our common stock. We also exclude unvested restricted stock awards that are antidilutive as a result of unrecognized compensation cost. Such shares averaged 2.7 million and 3.1 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and averaged 3.3 million and 2.5 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

(6) Fair Value Disclosure

Our financial instruments consist of cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable and long-term debt, excluding capital lease and other obligations. Due to their short-term nature, the carrying amounts of our cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable and accounts payable approximate their fair values.

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between independent and knowledgeable parties who are willing and able to transact for an asset or liability at the measurement date. We use valuation techniques that maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when determining fair value and then we rank the estimated values based on the reliability of the inputs used following the fair value hierarchy set forth by the FASB.

We determined the fair values of our long-term debt, including the current portion, based on quoted market prices where available or, if not available, based on discounted future cash flows using current market interest rates.

The three input levels in the hierarchy of fair value measurements are defined by the FASB generally as follows:



Input Level		Description of Input
Level 1		Observable inputs such as quoted market prices in active markets.
Level 2		Inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are either directly or indirectly observable.
Level 3		Unobservable inputs in which little or no market data exists.

The following table presents the carrying amounts and estimated fair values of our long-term debt, excluding capital lease and other obligations, as well as the input level used to determine the fair values indicated below:



		As of September 30, 2016			As of December 31, 2015
	Input Level	Carrying Amount		Fair Value	Carrying Amount	Fair Value
		(Dollars in millions)
Liabilities—Long-term debt, excluding capital lease and other obligations	2	$	19,277	20,076	19,800	19,473

(7) Segment Information

Segment Data

We are organized into operating segments based on customer type, business and consumer. These operating segments are our two reportable segments in our consolidated financial statements:

•

Business Segment. Consists generally of providing strategic, legacy and data integration products and services to small, medium and enterprise business, wholesale and governmental customers, including other communication providers. Our strategic products and services offered to these customers include our MPLS, Ethernet, colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), broadband, VoIP, information technology and other ancillary services. Our legacy services offered to these customers primarily include local and long-distance voice, including the sale of unbundled network elements ("UNEs"), which allow our wholesale customers to use all or part of our network to provide voice and data services to their customers, private line (including special access), switched access and other ancillary services. Our data integration offerings include the sale of telecommunications equipment located on customers' premises and related products and professional services, all of which are described further below under the heading "Product and Service Categories"; and


•	Consumer Segment. Consists generally of providing strategic and legacy products and services to residential customers. Our strategic products and services offered to these customers include our broadband, video (including our Prism TV services) and other ancillary services. Our legacy services offered to these customers include local and long-distance voice and other ancillary services.

The results of our business and consumer segments are summarized below:



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Total segment revenues	$	4,078		4,145		12,262		12,500
Total segment expenses	2,200			2,165		6,392		6,376
Total segment income	$	1,878		1,980		5,870		6,124
Total margin percentage	46		%	48	%	48	%	49	%

Business segment:
Revenues	$	2,606		2,636		7,807		7,991
Expenses	1,544			1,528		4,458		4,495
Income	$	1,062		1,108		3,349		3,496
Margin percentage	41		%	42	%	43	%	44	%
Consumer segment:
Revenues	$	1,472		1,509		4,455		4,509
Expenses	656			637		1,934		1,881
Income	$	816		872		2,521		2,628
Margin percentage	55		%	58	%	57	%	58	%

Changes in Segment Reporting

We continually review, evaluate and refine our expense allocations to better reflect how we view and manage our operations, and as a result, during the first half of 2016, we implemented several changes with respect to the assignment of certain expenses to our reportable segments. We have recast our previously-reported segment results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, to conform to the current presentation. The nature of the most significant changes to segment expenses are as follows:


•	Certain marketing and advertising expenses were reassigned from the business segment to the consumer segment;


•	Certain service delivery costs were reassigned from the consumer segment to the business segment;


•	Centralized human resources training costs were reassigned from the business and consumer segments to corporate overhead; and


•	Marketing direct mail costs and certain printing expenses were reassigned from corporate overhead to the business and consumer segments.

For the three months ended September 30, 2015, the segment expense recast resulted in an increase in consumer expenses of $15 million and a decrease in business expenses of $13 million. For the nine months ended September 30, 2015, the segment expense recast resulted in an increase in consumer expenses of $53 million and a decrease in business expenses of $55 million.

Product and Service Categories

From time to time, we may change the categorization of our products and services. During the second quarter of 2016, we determined that because of declines due to customer migration to other strategic products and services, certain of our business low-bandwidth data services, specifically our private line (including special access) services in our business segment, are more closely aligned with our legacy services than with our strategic services. As a result, we reflect these operating revenues as legacy services, and we have reclassified certain prior period amounts to conform to this change. The revision resulted in a reduction of revenue from strategic services and a corresponding increase in revenue from legacy services of $389 million and $1.207 billion (net of $2 million and $6 million of deferred revenue included in other business legacy services) for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015, respectively. In addition, our business broadband services remain a strategic service and are included in our other business strategic services.

We categorize our products, services and revenues among the following four categories:


•	Strategic services, which include primarily broadband, MPLS, Ethernet, colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), video (including our facilities-based video services, which we offer in 16 markets), VoIP, information technology and other ancillary services;


•	Legacy services, which include primarily local and long-distance voice services, including the sale of UNEs, private line (including special access), Integrated Services Digital Network ("ISDN") (which use regular telephone lines to support voice, video and data applications), switched access and other ancillary services;


•	Data integration, which includes the sale of telecommunications equipment located on customers' premises and related products and professional services, such as network management, installation and maintenance of data equipment and building of proprietary fiber-optic broadband networks for our governmental and business customers; and

•

Other operating revenues, which consist primarily of CAF support payments, USF support payments and USF surcharges. We receive federal support payments from both CAF Phase 1 and CAF Phase 2 programs, and support payments from both federal and state USF programs. These support payments are government subsidies designed to reimburse us for various costs related to certain telecommunications services, including the costs of deploying, maintaining and operating voice and broadband infrastructure in high-cost rural areas where we are not able to fully recover our costs from our customers. USF surcharges are the amounts we collect based on specific items we list on our customers' invoices to fund the FCC's universal service programs. We also generate other operating revenues from the leasing and subleasing of space in our office buildings, warehouses and other properties. Because we centrally manage the activities that generate these other operating revenues, these revenues are not included in our segment revenues.

Our operating revenue detail for our products and services consisted of the following categories:



	Three Months Ended September 30,			Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016		2015	2016	2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Strategic services
Business high-bandwidth data services (1)	$	744	699	2,235	2,083
Business hosting services (2)	303		324	915	961
Other business strategic services (3)	179		143	521	458
Consumer broadband services (4)	674		658	2,023	1,945
Other consumer strategic services (5)	115		105	340	314
Total strategic services revenues	2,015		1,929	6,034	5,761

Legacy services
Business voice services (6)	601		638	1,834	1,956
Business low-bandwidth data services (7)	339		391	1,057	1,213
Other business legacy services (8)	277		288	844	885
Consumer voice services (6)	605		664	1,854	2,027
Other consumer legacy services (9)	78		81	237	221
Total legacy services revenues	1,900		2,062	5,826	6,302

Data integration
Business data integration	163		153	401	435
Consumer data integration	—		1	1	2
Total data integration revenues	163		154	402	437

Other revenues
High-cost support revenue (10)	171		284	518	550
Other revenue (11)	133		125	401	374
Total other revenues	304		409	919	924

Total revenues	$	4,382	4,554	13,181	13,424

______________________________________________________________________



(1)	Includes MPLS and Ethernet revenue
(2)	Includes colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting) and hosting area network revenue
(3)	Includes primarily broadband, VoIP, video and IT services revenue
(4)	Includes broadband and related services revenue
(5)	Includes video and other revenue
(6)	Includes local and long-distance voice revenue
(7)	Includes private line (including special access) revenue
(8)	Includes UNEs, public access, switched access and other ancillary revenue
(9)	Includes other ancillary revenue
(10)	Includes CAF Phase 1, CAF Phase 2 and federal and state USF support revenue
(11)	Includes USF surcharges

We recognize revenues in our consolidated statements of operations for certain USF surcharges and transaction taxes that we bill to our customers. Our consolidated statements of operations also reflect the offsetting expense for the amounts we remit to the government agencies. The total amount of such surcharges and transaction taxes that we included in revenues aggregated to $144 million and $137 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and $435 million and $411 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively. These USF surcharges, where we record revenue, are included in "other" operating revenues and these transaction taxes are included in "legacy services" revenues. We also act as a collection agent for certain other USF and transaction taxes that we are required by government agencies to bill our customers, for which we do not record any revenue or expense because we only act as a pass-through agent.

Allocations of Revenues and Expenses

Our segment revenues include all revenues from our strategic, legacy and data integration operations as described in more detail above. Segment revenues are based upon each customer's classification as either business or consumer. We report our segment revenues based upon all services provided to that segment's customers. Our segment expenses for our two reportable segments include specific expenses incurred as a direct result of providing services and products to segment customers, along with selling, general and administrative expenses that are (i) directly associated with specific segment customers or activities and (ii) allocated expenses, which include network expenses, facilities expenses and other expenses such as fleet and real estate expenses. We do not assign depreciation and amortization expense or impairments to our segments, as the related assets and capital expenditures are centrally managed and are not monitored by or reported to the chief operating decision maker ("CODM") by segment. Generally speaking, severance expenses, restructuring expenses and certain centrally managed administrative functions (such as finance, information technology, legal and human resources) are not assigned to our segments. Interest expense is also excluded from segment results because we manage our financing on a consolidated basis and have not allocated assets or debt to specific segments. Other income and expense items are not monitored as a part of our segment operations and are therefore excluded from our segment results.

The following table reconciles segment income to net income:



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Total segment income	$	1,878		1,980		5,870		6,124
Other operating revenues	304			409		919		924
Depreciation and amortization	(995		)	(1,048	)	(2,958	)	(3,136	)
Other unassigned operating expenses	(592		)	(685	)	(1,892	)	(2,058	)
Interest expense and other (expense) income, net	(346		)	(327	)	(993	)	(968	)
Income tax expense	(97		)	(124	)	(362	)	(346	)
Net income	$	152		205		584		540

We do not have any single customer that provides more than 10% of our total consolidated operating revenues. Substantially all of our consolidated revenues come from customers located in the United States.

(8) Commitments and Contingencies

We are vigorously defending against all of the matters described below under the headings "Pending Matters" and "Other Proceedings and Disputes." As a matter of course, we are prepared both to litigate these matters to judgment, as well as to evaluate and consider all reasonable settlement opportunities. In this Note, when we refer to a class action as "putative" it is because a class has been alleged, but not certified in that matter. We have established accrued liabilities for these matters described below where losses are deemed probable and reasonably estimable.

Pending Matters

In William Douglas Fulghum, et al. v. Embarq Corporation, et al., filed on December 28, 2007 in the United States District Court for the District of Kansas, a group of retirees filed a class action lawsuit challenging the decision to make certain modifications in retiree benefits programs relating to life insurance, medical insurance and prescription drug benefits, generally effective January 1, 2006 and January 1, 2008 (which, at the time of the modifications, was expected to reduce estimated future expenses for the subject benefits by more than $300 million). Defendants include Embarq, certain of its benefit plans, its Employee Benefits Committee and the individual plan administrator of certain of its benefits plans. Additional defendants include Sprint Nextel and certain of its benefit plans. The court certified classes on the claims for vested benefits and age discrimination, but rejected class certification on the claims for breach of fiduciary duty. On October 14, 2011, the Fulghum lawyers filed a new, related lawsuit, Abbott et al. v. Sprint Nextel et al. In Abbott, approximately 1,500 plaintiffs alleged breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the changes in retiree benefits that were at issue in Fulghum. After extensive district court proceedings in Fulghum, and an interlocutory appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, defendants prevailed in 2015 on all age discrimination claims and on the majority of claims for vested benefits. The district court in Fulghum subsequently granted judgment in favor of defendants on all remaining vested benefits claims, and in July 2016 ordered that any affected class members could appeal this ruling. No appeal was taken, and all claims for vested benefits thus have lapsed. On August 31, 2016, the parties reached a settlement in principle on all remaining claims in Fulghum and Abbott. Assuming its terms are successfully implemented, we believe the settlement is likely to be final in mid 2017. We have accrued a liability that we believe is probable for these matters; the amount is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

On July 16, 2013, Comcast MO Group, Inc. ("Comcast") filed a lawsuit in Colorado state court against Qwest Communications International, Inc. ("Qwest"). Comcast alleges Qwest breached the parties' 1998 tax sharing agreement ("TSA") when it refused to partially indemnify Comcast for a tax liability settlement Comcast reached with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in a dispute to which we were not a party. Comcast seeks approximately $80 million in damages, excluding interest. Qwest and Comcast are parties to the TSA in their capacities as successors to the TSA's original parties, U S WEST, Inc., a telecommunications company, and MediaOne Group, Inc., a cable television company, respectively. In October 2014, the state court granted summary judgment in Qwest's favor. In December 2015, the Colorado Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment. On October 3, 2016, the Colorado Supreme Court denied Comcast's petition to review the Court of Appeals judgment. We have not accrued a liability for this matter because we do not believe that liability is probable.

Subsidiaries of CenturyLink, Inc. are among hundreds of companies in an industry-wide dispute, raised in nearly 100 federal lawsuits (filed between 2014 and 2016) that have been consolidated in the United States District Court for the District of Northern Texas for pretrial procedures. The disputes relate to switched access charges that local exchange carriers ("LECs") collect from interexchange carriers ("IXCs") for IXCs' use of LEC's access services. In the lawsuits, three IXCs, Sprint Communications Company L.P. ("Sprint"), affiliates of Verizon Communications Inc. ("Verizon") and affiliates of Level 3 Communications LLC ("Level 3"), assert that federal and state laws bar LECs from collecting access charges when IXCs exchange certain types of calls between mobile and wireline devices that are routed through an IXC. Some of these IXCs have asserted claims seeking refunds of payments for access charges previously paid and relief from future access charges. In addition, Level 3 has ceased paying switched access charges on these calls.

In November 2015, the federal court agreed with the LECs and rejected the IXCs' contention that federal law prohibits these particular access charges, and also allowed the IXCs to refile state-law claims. Since then, many of the LECs and IXCs have filed revised pleadings and additional motions, which remain pending. Separately, some of the defendants, including CenturyLink, Inc.'s LECs, have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to address these issues on an industry-wide basis.

As both an IXC and a LEC, we both pay and assess significant amounts of the charges in question. The outcome of these disputes and lawsuits, as well as any related regulatory proceedings that could ensue, are currently not predictable. If we are required to stop assessing these charges or to pay refunds of any such charges, our financial results could be negatively affected.

CenturyLink, Inc. and several of its subsidiaries are defendants in lawsuits filed over the past few years in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, Missouri by numerous Missouri municipalities alleging underpayment of taxes. These municipalities are seeking, among other things, (i) a declaratory judgment regarding the extent of our obligations to pay certain business license and gross receipts taxes and (ii) a monetary award of back taxes covering 2007 to the present, plus penalties and interest. In an April 2016 ruling in connection with one of these pending cases, the court made findings which, if not overturned, will result in a tax liability to us well in excess of the contingent liability we have established. Following further proceedings at the district court, we plan to file an appeal and continue to vigorously defend against these claims. For a variety of reasons, we expect the outcome of our appeal to significantly reduce our ultimate exposure, although we can provide no assurances to this effect.

Other Proceedings and Disputes

From time to time, we are involved in other proceedings incidental to our business, including patent infringement allegations, administrative hearings of state public utility commissions relating primarily to our rates or services, actions relating to employee claims, various tax issues, environmental law issues, grievance hearings before labor regulatory agencies and miscellaneous third party tort actions.

We are currently defending several patent infringement lawsuits asserted against us by non-practicing entities, many of whom are seeking substantial recoveries. These cases have progressed to various stages and one or more may go to trial in the coming 24 months if they are not otherwise resolved. Where applicable, we are seeking full or partial indemnification from our vendors and suppliers. As with all litigation, we are vigorously defending these actions and, as a matter of course, are prepared to litigate these matters to judgment, as well as to evaluate and consider all reasonable settlement opportunities.

We are subject to various foreign, federal, state and local environmental protection and health and safety laws. From time to time, we are subject to judicial and administrative proceedings brought by various governmental authorities under these laws. Several such proceedings are currently pending, but none is reasonably expected to exceed $100,000 in fines and penalties.

The outcome of these other proceedings is not predictable. However, based on current circumstances, we do not believe that the ultimate resolution of these other proceedings, after considering available defenses and any insurance coverage or indemnification rights, will have a material adverse effect on our financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

(9) Other Financial Information

Other Current Assets

The following table presents details of other current assets in our consolidated balance sheets:



	As of September 30, 2016		As of December 31, 2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Prepaid expenses	$	271	238
Materials, supplies and inventory	136		144
Assets held for sale	1		8
Deferred activation and installation charges	111		105
Other	112		86
Total other current assets	$	631	581

Selected Current Liabilities

Current liabilities reflected in our consolidated balance sheets include accounts payable and other current liabilities as follows:



	As of September 30, 2016		As of December 31, 2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Accounts payable	$	1,036	968
Other current liabilities:
Accrued rent	$	29	32
Legal contingencies	46		20
Other	180		168
Total other current liabilities	$	255	220

Included in accounts payable at September 30, 2016 and December 31, 2015, were (i) $59 million and $68 million, respectively, representing book overdrafts and (ii) $110 million and $94 million, respectively, associated with capital expenditures.

Other Information

During the nine months ended September 30, 2016, we made three small acquisitions for total consideration of $24 million, including immaterial future cash payments, of which substantially all of the $24 million has initially been attributed to goodwill. These acquisitions were consummated to expand the product offerings of our business segment and therefore the goodwill has been assigned to that segment. The majority of the goodwill is attributed primarily to expected future increases in business segment revenue from the sale of new products. The majority of the goodwill from these acquisitions is expected to be deductible for tax purposes.

(10) Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss

Information Relating to 2016

The tables below summarize changes in accumulated other comprehensive loss recorded on our consolidated balance sheets by component for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016:



	Pension Plans			Post-Retirement Benefit Plans		Foreign Currency Translation Adjustment and Other		Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at June 30, 2016	$	(1,663	)	(174	)	(44	)	(1,881	)
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications	—			—		(4	)	(4	)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income	26			4		—		30
Net current-period other comprehensive income	26			4		(4	)	26
Balance at September 30, 2016	$	(1,637	)	(170	)	(48	)	(1,855	)



	Pension Plans			Post-Retirement Benefit Plans		Foreign Currency Translation Adjustment and Other		Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at December 31, 2015	$	(1,715	)	(180	)	(39	)	(1,934	)
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications	—			—		(9	)	(9	)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income	78			10		—		88
Net current-period other comprehensive income	78			10		(9	)	79
Balance at September 30, 2016	$	(1,637	)	(170	)	(48	)	(1,855	)

The tables below present further information about our reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive loss by component for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016:



Three Months Ended September 30, 2016	(Decrease) Increase in Net Income			Affected Line Item in Consolidated Statement of Operations or Footnote Where Additional Information is Presented If The Amount is not Recognized in Net Income in Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Amortization of pension & post-retirement plans
Net actuarial loss	$	(44	)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Prior service cost	(3		)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Total before tax	(47		)
Income tax benefit	17			Income tax expense
Net of tax	$	(30	)



Nine Months Ended September 30, 2016	(Decrease) Increase in Net Income			Affected Line Item in Consolidated Statement of Operations or Footnote Where Additional Information is Presented If The Amount is not Recognized in Net Income in Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Amortization of pension & post-retirement plans
Net actuarial loss	$	(131	)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Prior service cost	(9		)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Total before tax	(140		)
Income tax benefit	52			Income tax expense
Net of tax	$	(88	)

Information Relating to 2015

The tables below summarize changes in accumulated other comprehensive loss recorded on our consolidated balance sheets by component for the three and nine months ended months ended September 30, 2015:



	Pension Plans			Post-Retirement Benefit Plans		Foreign Currency Translation Adjustment and Other		Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at June 30, 2015	$	(1,668	)	(266	)	(25	)	(1,959	)
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications	—			—		(10	)	(10	)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income	24			4		—		28
Net current-period other comprehensive income	24			4		(10	)	18
Balance at September 30, 2015	$	(1,644	)	(262	)	(35	)	(1,941	)



	Pension Plans			Post-Retirement Benefit Plans		Foreign Currency Translation Adjustment and Other		Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at December 31, 2014	$	(1,720	)	(272	)	(25	)	(2,017	)
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications	—			—		(10	)	(10	)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income	76			10		—		86
Net current-period other comprehensive income	76			10		(10	)	76
Balance at September 30, 2015	$	(1,644	)	(262	)	(35	)	(1,941	)

The tables below present further information about our reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive loss by component for the three and nine months ended months ended September 30, 2015:



Three Months Ended September 30, 2015	(Decrease) Increase in Net Income			Affected Line Item in Consolidated Statement of Operations or Footnote Where Additional Information is Presented If The Amount is not Recognized in Net Income in Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Amortization of pension & post-retirement plans
Net actuarial loss	$	(40	)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Prior service cost	(7		)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Total before tax	(47		)
Income tax benefit	19			Income tax expense
Net of tax	$	(28	)



Nine Months Ended September 30, 2015	(Decrease) Increase in Net Income			Affected Line Item in Consolidated Statement of Operations or Footnote Where Additional Information is Presented If The Amount is not Recognized in Net Income in Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Amortization of pension & post-retirement plans
Net actuarial loss	$	(120	)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Prior service cost	(20		)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Total before tax	(140		)
Income tax benefit	54			Income tax expense
Net of tax	$	(86	)

(11) Labor Union Contracts

Over 37% of our employees are members of various bargaining units represented by the Communication Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Approximately 11,000, or 26%, of our employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements that are scheduled to expire October 7, 2017.

(12) Subsequent Events

Colocation Transaction

On November 3, 2016, we entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement with a consortium led by BC Partners, Inc. and Medina Capital ("Purchaser") under which we propose to sell our data centers and colocation business for cash and equity valued at $2.3 billion, subject to offsets for the capital lease obligations described below and various working capital and other adjustments. The assets that will be sold and the liabilities to be assumed are currently included in our continuing operations. As part of the transaction, Purchaser will assume our capital lease obligations, which amounted to $320 million as of September 30, 2016, related to the properties that we will sell. The parties anticipate closing the transaction in the first quarter of 2017. The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, including filings under the Hart-Scott-Robino Antitrust Improvement Act and a review by the Committee of Foreign Investments in the United States, as well as other customary closing conditions.

The transaction will result in Purchaser acquiring 57 data centers. This business generated revenues of $626 million, excluding revenue with affiliates, for us in 2015. We have not yet determined the final pre-tax gain or loss on the transaction as a result of various allocations, primarily attributable to intangibles and goodwill, required as part of carving these assets out of CenturyLink. However, it is possible that the transaction could result in a pre-tax loss that is material. Additionally, as a result of the final structure of the agreement, we are in the process of determining the total tax impact of the divestiture and related restructuring, which is likely to be material, but we are unable to currently estimate a reasonably accurate estimate of its impact.

Level 3 Transaction

On October 31, 2016, we entered into a definitive merger agreement under which we propose to acquire Level 3 Communications, Inc. (“Level 3”) in a cash and stock transaction. Under the terms of the agreement, Level 3 shareholders will receive $26.50 per share in cash and a fixed exchange ratio of 1.4286 CenturyLink shares for each share of Level 3 common stock they own at closing. CenturyLink shareholders are expected to own 51% and Level 3 shareholders are expected to own 49% of the combined company at closing. On September 30, 2016, Level 3 had outstanding $10.9 billion of long-term debt.

Completion of the transaction is subject to the receipt of regulatory approvals, including the expiration or termination of the applicable waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, as well as approvals from the Federal Communications Commission and certain state regulatory approvals. The transaction is also subject to the approval of CenturyLink and Level 3 shareholders, as well as other customary closing conditions. Subject to these conditions, we anticipate closing this transaction by the end of the third quarter 2017. If the merger agreement is terminated under certain circumstances, we may be obligated to pay Level 3 a termination fee of $472 million and Level 3 may be obligated to pay CenturyLink a termination fee of $738 million.

ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this report to "CenturyLink," "we," "us" and "our" refer to CenturyLink, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

All references to "Notes" in this Item 2 of Part I refer to the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 1 of Part I of this report.

Certain statements in this report constitute forward-looking statements. See the last paragraph of this Item 2 of Part I and "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of Part II of this report for a discussion of certain factors that could cause our actual results to differ from our anticipated results or otherwise impact our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity or prospects.

Overview

Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations ("MD&A") included herein should be read in conjunction with MD&A and the other information included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and with the consolidated financial statements and related notes in Item 1 of Part I of this report. The results of operations for the first nine months of the year are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that might be expected for the entire year, and the net cash provided by operating activities for the first nine months of the year, in particular, may not be indicative of the net cash that will be provided by operating activities in the last three months of the year.

At September 30, 2016, we operated approximately 11.2 million access lines in 37 states, and served approximately 6.0 million broadband subscribers and approximately 318 thousand Prism TV subscribers. We also operated 58 data centers throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Our methodology for counting access lines, broadband subscribers and data centers, which is described further in the operational metrics table below under "Results of Operations", and our methodology for counting Prism TV subscribers may not be comparable to those of other companies.

We are organized into operating segments based on customer type, business and consumer. These operating segments are our two reportable segments in our consolidated financial statements:

•

Business Segment. Consists generally of providing strategic, legacy and data integration products and services to small, medium and enterprise business, wholesale and governmental customers, including other communication providers. Our strategic products and services offered to these customers include our MPLS, Ethernet, colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), broadband, VoIP, information technology and other ancillary services. Our legacy services offered to these customers primarily include local and long-distance voice services, including the sale of unbundled network elements ("UNEs") which allow our wholesale customers to use all or part of our network to provide voice and data services to their customers, private line (including special access), switched access and other ancillary services. Our data integration offerings include the sale of telecommunications equipment located on customers' premises and related products and professional services, all of which are described further below under the heading "Operating Revenues"; and


•	Consumer Segment. Consists generally of providing strategic and legacy products and services to residential customers. Our strategic products and services offered to these customers include our broadband, video (including our Prism TV services) and other ancillary services. Our legacy services offered to these customers include local and long-distance voice and other ancillary services.

Results of Operations

The following table summarizes the results of our consolidated operations for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015:



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions except per share amounts)
Operating revenues	$	4,382		4,554		13,181		13,424
Operating expenses	3,787			3,898		11,242		11,570
Operating income	595			656		1,939		1,854
Interest expense and other (expense) income, net	(346		)	(327	)	(993	)	(968	)
Income tax expense	97			124		362		346
Net income	$	152		205		584		540
Basic earnings per common share	$	0.28		0.37		1.08		0.97
Diluted earnings per common share	$	0.28		0.37		1.08		0.97

The following table summarizes our access lines, broadband subscribers, Prism TV subscribers, data centers and number of employees:



	As of September 30,		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016	2015	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(in thousands except for data centers, which are actual amounts)
Operational metrics:
Total access lines ⁽¹⁾	11,231	11,915	(684	)	(6	)%
Total broadband subscribers ⁽¹⁾	5,950	6,071	(121	)	(2	)%
Total Prism TV subscribers	318	269	49		18	%
Total data centers ⁽²⁾	58	59	(1)		(2	)%
Total employees	42.5	43.1	(0.6	)	(1	)%

______________________________________________________________________

⁽¹⁾

Access lines are lines reaching from the customers' premises to a connection with the public network and broadband subscribers are customers that purchase broadband connection service through their existing telephone lines, stand-alone telephone lines, or fiber-optic cables. Our methodology for counting our access lines and broadband subscribers includes only those lines that we use to provide services to external customers and excludes lines used solely by us and our affiliates. It also excludes unbundled loops and includes stand-alone broadband subscribers. We count lines when we install the service.


⁽²⁾	We define a data center as any facility where we market, sell and deliver either colocation services, multi-tenant managed services, or both. Our data centers are located in North America, Europe and Asia.

During the last decade, we have experienced revenue declines primarily due to declines in access lines, private line customers, switched access rates and minutes of use. To mitigate these revenue declines, we remain focused on efforts to, among other things:


•	promote long-term relationships with our customers through bundling of integrated services;


•	provide a wide array of diverse services, including enhanced or additional services that may become available in the future due to, among other things, advances in technology or improvements in our infrastructure;


•	provide our broadband and premium services to a higher percentage of our customers;


•	pursue acquisitions of additional assets if available at attractive prices;


•	increase prices on our products and services if and when practicable;


•	increase the capacity, speed and usage of our networks; and


•	market our products and services to new customers.

Operating Revenues

We categorize our products, services and revenues among the following four categories:


•	Strategic services, which include primarily broadband, MPLS, Ethernet, colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), video (including our facilities-based video services, which we offer in 16 markets), VoIP, information technology and other ancillary services;


•	Legacy services, which include primarily local and long-distance voice services, including the sale of UNEs, private line (including special access), Integrated Services Digital Network ("ISDN") (which use regular telephone lines to support voice, video and data applications), switched access and other ancillary services;


•	Data integration, which includes the sale of telecommunications equipment located on customers' premises and related products and professional services, such as network management, installation and maintenance of data equipment and building of proprietary fiber-optic broadband networks for our governmental and business customers; and

•

Other operating revenues, which consists primarily of Connect America Fund ("CAF") support payments, Universal Service Fund ("USF") support payments and USF surcharges. We receive federal support payments from both CAF Phase 1 and CAF Phase 2 programs, and support payments from both federal and state USF programs. These support payments are government subsidies designed to reimburse us for various costs related to certain telecommunications services, including the costs of deploying, maintaining and operating voice and broadband infrastructure in high-cost rural areas where we are not able to fully recover our costs from our customers. USF surcharges are the amounts we collect based on specific items we list on our customers' invoices to fund the Federal Communications Commission's ("FCC") universal service programs. We also generate other operating revenues from the leasing and subleasing of space in our office buildings, warehouses and other properties. Because we centrally manage the activities that generate these other operating revenues, these revenues are not included in our segment revenues.

The following tables summarize our consolidated operating revenues recorded under our four revenue categories:



	Three Months Ended September 30,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016		2015	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Strategic services	$	2,015	1,929	86		4	%
Legacy services	1,900		2,062	(162	)	(8	)%
Data integration	163		154	9		6	%
Other	304		409	(105	)	(26	)%
Total operating revenues	$	4,382	4,554	(172	)	(4	)%



	Nine Months Ended September 30,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016		2015	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Strategic services	$	6,034	5,761	273		5	%
Legacy services	5,826		6,302	(476	)	(8	)%
Data integration	402		437	(35	)	(8	)%
Other	919		924	(5	)	(1	)%
Total operating revenues	$	13,181	13,424	(243	)	(2	)%

Our total operating revenues decreased by $172 million, or 4%, and decreased by $243 million, or 2%, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, respectively, as compared to the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in our total operating revenues for both periods was primarily due to lower legacy services revenues, which decreased by $162 million, or 8%, and $476 million, or 8%, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, respectively, as compared to the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decline in our legacy services revenues for both periods reflects the continuing loss of access lines and loss of long-distance revenues primarily due to the displacement of traditional wireline telephone services by other competitive products and services, including data and wireless communication services, and reductions in the volume of our private line (including special access) services. We estimate that the rate of our access lines losses will be between 5.0% and 6.0% over the full year of 2016. The growth in our strategic services revenues for both periods was primarily due to increased demand for our Ethernet, MPLS and facilities-based video services and price increases on broadband services, which were partially offset by declines in our hosting services and losses of broadband customers. Data integration revenues, which is typically more volatile than our other sources of revenues, increased by $9 million, or 6%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015. The increase in our data integration revenues was primarily due to increases in governmental and business sales and maintenance services. Data integration revenues decreased by $35 million, or 8%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in data integration revenues was primarily due to declines in governmental and business sales and maintenance services. Other operating revenues decreased by $105 million, or 26%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015 primarily due to the FCC CAF Phase 2 one-time transitional payment received in the third quarter of 2015. See Note 1—Basis of Presentation for additional information on the CAF Phase 2 program. Other operating revenues decreased by $5 million, or 1%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015 primarily due to lower revenues from intrastate universal service fund and CAF Phase 2 funding associated with a phase down in funding in certain census areas, which were partially offset by higher USF surcharge revenues related to increased universal service fund contribution factors.

Further analysis of our segment operating revenues and trends impacting our performance are provided below in "Segment Results."

Operating Expenses

The following tables summarize our consolidated operating expenses:



	Three Months Ended September 30,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016		2015	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Cost of services and products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)	$	1,996	1,993	3		—	%
Selling, general and administrative	796		857	(61	)	(7	)%
Depreciation and amortization	995		1,048	(53	)	(5	)%
Total operating expenses	3,787		3,898	(111	)	(3	)%



	Nine Months Ended September 30,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016		2015	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Cost of services and products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)	$	5,845	5,863	(18	)	—	%
Selling, general and administrative	2,439		2,571	(132	)	(5	)%
Depreciation and amortization	2,958		3,136	(178	)	(6	)%
Total operating expenses	$	11,242	11,570	(328	)	(3	)%

Cost of Services and Products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)

Cost of services and products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) increased by $3 million, or less than 1%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015. The increase in our cost of services and products was primarily due to increases in customer premises equipment and maintenance costs related to the increase in data integration revenue, Prism TV content costs (resulting from higher content volume and rates), network expense and USF rates. These increases were substantially offset by reductions in professional fees and payment processing fees. Cost of services and products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) decreased by $18 million, or less than 1%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in our cost of services and products was primarily due to reductions in salaries and wages from lower headcount, professional fees, customer premises equipment costs and payment processing fees. These reductions were partially offset by increases in Prism TV content costs, facility costs, network expense and USF rates.

Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by $61 million, or 7%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in our selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily due to reductions in salaries and wages from lower headcount, professional fees and marketing and advertising expenses, which were partially offset by an increase in bad debt expense. Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased by $132 million, or 5%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. This decrease in our selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily due to reductions in salaries and wages from lower headcount, professional fees, property and other taxes and impairment of asset charges, which were partially offset by increases in bad debt expense and external commissions.

In response to the continued decline of our legacy services revenues and to better align our workforce with our workload requirements, in the third quarter of 2016 we began planning to reduce our workforce. We plan to reduce our workforce by approximately 3,000 employees, initially through voluntary severance packages and the balance through involuntary reductions. We plan to recognize in the fourth quarter of 2016 a charge for severance expenses and other one-time termination benefits that we currently estimate will be between $150 million to $200 million.

Depreciation and Amortization

The following tables provide detail of our depreciation and amortization expense:



	Three Months Ended September 30,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016		2015	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Depreciation	$	691	713	(22	)	(3	)%
Amortization	304		335	(31	)	(9	)%
Total depreciation and amortization	$	995	1,048	(53	)	(5	)%



	Nine Months Ended September 30,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016		2015	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Depreciation	$	2,028	2,113	(85	)	(4	)%
Amortization	930		1,023	(93	)	(9	)%
Total depreciation and amortization	$	2,958	3,136	(178	)	(6	)%

Depreciation expense decreased by $22 million, or 3%, and decreased by $85 million, or 4%, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, respectively, as compared to the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015. Depreciation expense is impacted by several factors, including changes in our depreciable cost basis, changes in our estimates of the remaining economic life of certain network assets and the addition of new plant. The depreciation expense related to our plant for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 was lower than the depreciation expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2015 due to full depreciation and retirement of certain plant placed in service prior to 2016. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in depreciation expense attributable to new plant placed in service since September 30, 2015.

Amortization expense decreased by $31 million, or 9%, and decreased by $93 million, or 9%, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2016, respectively, as compared to the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in amortization expense for both periods was primarily due to the use of accelerated amortization for a portion of our customer relationship assets. The effect of using an accelerated amortization method results in an incremental decline in expense each period as the intangible assets amortize. In addition, amortization of capitalized software is lower due to software becoming fully amortized faster than new software was acquired or developed.

Further analysis of our segment operating expenses by segment is provided below in "Segment Results."

Other Consolidated Results

The following tables summarize our total other expense, net and income tax expense:



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016			2015		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Interest expense	$	(327	)	(329	)	(2	)	(1	)%
Other (expense) income, net	(19		)	2		(21	)	nm
Total other expense, net	$	(346	)	(327	)	19		6	%
Income tax expense	$	97		124		(27	)	(22	)%



	Nine Months Ended September 30,					Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016			2015		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Interest expense	$	(998	)	(984	)	14		1	%
Other (expense) income, net	5			16		(11	)	(69	)%
Total other expense, net	$	(993	)	(968	)	25		3	%
Income tax expense	$	362		346		16		5	%

_______________________________________________________________________________

nm-Percentages greater than 200% and comparisons between positive and negative values or to/from zero values are considered not meaningful.

Interest Expense

Interest expense remained relatively unchanged for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015. Interest expense increased by $14 million, or 1%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The increase in interest expense was primarily due to increases in interest expense on unsecured notes related to the issuance of $1 billion of new debt in April 2016 in advance of a debt maturity in June 2016 and to a reduction in the amount of net premium amortization recorded at acquisition due to the early retirement of several issuances of debt during the period, which has the effect of increasing interest expense.

Other (Expense) Income, Net

Other (expense) income, net reflects certain items not directly related to our core operations, including our share of income from partnerships we do not control, interest income, gains and losses from non-operating asset dispositions and foreign currency gains and losses. Other (expense) income, net decreased by $21 million, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in other (expense) income, net was primarily due to losses on early retirement of debt. Other (expense) income, net decreased by $11 million, or 69%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. This decrease in other (expense) income, net was primarily due to losses on early retirement of debt, which was partially offset by a reduction in losses on transactions denominated in foreign currencies in 2016 and the impact of nonrecurring funding from a state economic development program.

Income Tax Expense

For the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, our effective income tax rate was 39.0% and 37.7%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2016, includes the effect of changes in state apportionment factors and research and development credits. The effective tax rate for the three months ended September 30, 2015, includes the effect of a release of a portion of a litigation accrual. For the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, our effective income tax rate was 38.3% and 39.1%, respectively. The effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, includes the effect of changes in state apportionment factors and research and development credits. The effective tax rate for the nine months ended September 30, 2015, includes the effect of non-tax deductible regulatory fines associated with a 911 system outage.

Segment Results

General

The results for our business and consumer segments are summarized below:



	Three Months Ended September 30,					Nine Months Ended September 30,
	2016			2015		2016		2015
	(Dollars in millions)
Total segment revenues	$	4,078		4,145		12,262		12,500
Total segment expenses	2,200			2,165		6,392		6,376
Total segment income	$	1,878		1,980		5,870		6,124
Total margin percentage	46		%	48	%	48	%	49	%

Business segment:
Revenues	$	2,606		2,636		7,807		7,991
Expenses	1,544			1,528		4,458		4,495
Income	$	1,062		1,108		3,349		3,496
Margin percentage	41		%	42	%	43	%	44	%
Consumer segment:
Revenues	$	1,472		1,509		4,455		4,509
Expenses	656			637		1,934		1,881
Income	$	816		872		2,521		2,628
Margin percentage	55		%	58	%	57	%	58	%

Changes in Segment Reporting

During the first half of 2016, we implemented several changes with respect to the assignment of certain expenses to our reportable segments, including changes that increased our consumer segment expenses and decreased our business segment expenses in prior periods. We have recast our previously reported segment results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2015 to conform to the current presentation. See Note 7—Segment Information to our consolidated financial statements in Item 1 of Part I of this report for additional information on our changes in segment reporting.

Allocation of Revenues and Expenses

Our segment revenues include all revenues from our strategic services, legacy services and data integration as described in more detail above under "Operating Revenues." Segment revenues are based upon each customer's classification as either business or consumer. We report our segment revenues based upon all services provided to that segment's customers. For information on how we allocate expenses to our segments, as well as other additional information about our segments, see Note 7—Segment Information to our consolidated financial statements in Item 1 of Part I of this report.

Business Segment

The operations of our business segment have been impacted by several significant trends, including those described below:

•

Strategic services. Our mix of total business segment revenues continues to migrate from legacy services to strategic services as our small, medium and enterprise business, wholesale and governmental customers increasingly demand integrated data, broadband, hosting and voice services. Our Ethernet-based services in the wholesale market face competition from cable companies and competitive fiber-based telecommunications providers. We anticipate continued pricing pressure for our colocation services as vendors continue to expand their enterprise colocation operations. In recent years, our competitors, as well as several large, diversified technology companies, have made substantial investments in cloud computing. This expansion in competitive cloud computing offerings has led to increased pricing pressure, a migration towards lower-priced cloud-based services and enhanced competition for contracts, and we expect these trends to continue. Customers' demand for new technology has also increased the number of competitors offering strategic services similar to ours. Price compression resulting from these above-mentioned competitive pressures has negatively impacted the operating margins of our strategic services, and we expect this trend to continue. Operating costs also impact the operating margins of our strategic services, but to a lesser extent than price compression and customer disconnects. These operating costs include employee costs, sales commissions, software costs on selected services, installation costs and third-party facility costs. We believe increases in operating costs have generally had a greater impact on the operating margins of our strategic services as compared to our legacy services, principally because our strategic services rely more heavily upon the above-listed support functions;

•

Legacy services. We continue to experience customers migrating away from our higher margin legacy services into lower margin strategic services. Our legacy services revenues have been, and we expect they will continue to be, adversely affected by access line losses and price compression. In particular, our access, local services and long-distance revenues have been, and we expect will continue to be, adversely affected by customer migration to more technologically advanced services, an increase in the use of non-voice communications and a related decrease in the demand for traditional voice services, industry consolidation and price compression caused by regulation and rate reductions. For example, many of our business segment customers are substituting cable, wireless and VoIP services for traditional voice telecommunications services, resulting in continued access revenue loss. Demand for our private line services (including special access) continues to decline due to our customers' optimization of their networks, industry consolidation and technological migration to higher-speed services. Although our legacy services generally face fewer direct competitors than certain of our strategic services, customer migration and, to a lesser degree, price compression from competitive pressures have negatively impacted our legacy revenues and the operating margins of our legacy services. We expect this trend to continue. Operating costs, such as installation costs and third-party facility costs, have also negatively impacted the operating margins of our legacy services, but to a lesser extent than customer loss, customer migration and price compression. Operating costs also tend to impact our strategic services to a greater extent than legacy services for the reasons noted above;

•

Data integration. We expect both data integration revenue and the related costs will fluctuate from year to year as this offering tends to be more sensitive than others to changes in the economy and in spending trends of our federal, state and local governmental customers, many of whom have experienced substantial budget cuts with the possibility of additional future budget cuts. Our data integration operating margins are typically smaller than most of our other offerings; and

•

Operating efficiencies. We continue to evaluate our segment operating structure and focus. This involves balancing our workforce in response to our workload requirements, productivity improvements and changes in industry, competitive, technological and regulatory conditions, while achieving operational efficiencies and improving our processes through automation. However, our ongoing efforts to increase revenue will continue to require that we incur higher costs in some areas. We also expect our business segment to benefit indirectly from enhanced efficiencies in our company-wide network operations.

The following tables summarize the results of operations from our business segment:



	Business Segment
	Three Months Ended September 30,					Increase / (Decrease)		%Change
	2016			2015		Increase / (Decrease)		%Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Segment revenues:
Strategic services
High-bandwidth data services (1)	$	744		699		45		6	%
Hosting services (2)	303			324		(21	)	(6	)%
Other strategic services (3)	179			143		36		25	%
Total strategic services revenues	1,226			1,166		60		5	%
Legacy services
Voice services (4)	601			638		(37	)	(6	)%
Low-bandwidth data services (5)	339			391		(52	)	(13	)%
Other legacy services (6)	277			288		(11	)	(4	)%
Total legacy services revenues	1,217			1,317		(100	)	(8	)%
Data integration	163			153		10		7	%
Total revenues	2,606			2,636		(30	)	(1	)%

Segment expenses	1,544			1,528		16		1	%
Segment income	$	1,062		1,108		(46	)	(4	)%
Segment margin percentage	41		%	42	%

____________________________________________________________________



(1)	Includes MPLS and Ethernet revenue
(2)	Includes colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting) and hosting area network revenue
(3)	Includes primarily broadband, VoIP, video and IT services revenue
(4)	Includes local and long-distance voice revenue
(5)	Includes private line (including special access) revenue
(6)	Includes UNEs, switched access and other ancillary revenue



	Business Segment
	Nine Months Ended September 30,					Increase / (Decrease)		%Change
	2016			2015		Increase / (Decrease)		%Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Segment revenues:
Strategic services
High-bandwidth data services (1)	$	2,235		2,083		152		7	%
Hosting services (2)	915			961		(46	)	(5	)%
Other strategic services (3)	521			458		63		14	%
Total strategic services revenues	3,671			3,502		169		5	%
Legacy services
Voice services (4)	1,834			1,956		(122	)	(6	)%
Low-bandwidth data services (5)	1,057			1,213		(156	)	(13	)%
Other legacy services (6)	844			885		(41	)	(5	)%
Total legacy services revenues	3,735			4,054		(319	)	(8	)%
Data integration	401			435		(34	)	(8	)%
Total revenues	7,807			7,991		(184	)	(2	)%

Segment expenses	4,458			4,495		(37	)	(1	)%
Segment income	$	3,349		3,496		(147	)	(4	)%
Segment margin percentage	43		%	44	%

____________________________________________________________________



(1)	Includes MPLS and Ethernet revenue
(2)	Includes colocation, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting) and hosting area network revenue
(3)	Includes primarily broadband, VoIP, video and IT services revenue
(4)	Includes local and long-distance voice revenue
(5)	Includes private line (including special access) revenue
(6)	Includes UNEs, switched access and other ancillary revenue

Segment Revenues

Business segment revenues decreased by $30 million, or 1%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015 and decreased by $184 million, or 2%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in business segment revenues for both periods was primarily due to declines in our legacy services revenues. The decline in our legacy services revenues for both periods was attributable to a reduction in access lines and lower volumes of long-distance and access services for the reasons noted above and to reductions in the volume of private line (including special access) services. The increase in our strategic services revenues for both periods was primarily due to increases in MPLS unit growth and higher Ethernet and VOIP volumes, which were partially offset by declines in our hosting services. The increase in our data integration revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015 was primarily due to higher sales of customer premises equipment to business customers. The decrease in our data integration revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015 was primarily due to lower sales of customer premises equipment to governmental and business customers and to declines in maintenance services.

Segment Expenses

Business segment expenses increased by $16 million, or 1%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015. The increase in our business segment expenses was primarily due to increases in salaries and wages, employee benefits expense and customer premises equipment costs, which were partially offset by reductions in professional fees, payment processing fees and sales commissions. Business segment expenses decreased by $37 million, or 1%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in our business segment expenses was primarily due to reductions in salaries and wages from lower headcount, professional fees, customer premises equipment costs, payment processing fees and sales commissions, which were partially offset by increases in facility costs, network expense and bad debt expense.

Segment Income

Business segment income decreased by $46 million, or 4%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015 and decreased by $147 million, or 4%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decline in our business segment income for both periods was due predominantly to the loss of customers and lower service volumes in our legacy services.

Consumer Segment

The operations of our consumer segment have been impacted by several significant trends, including those described below:

•

Strategic services. In order to remain competitive and attract additional residential broadband subscribers, we believe it is important to continually increase our broadband network's scope and connection speeds. As a result, we continue to invest in our broadband network, which allows for the delivery of higher-speed broadband services to a greater number of customers. We compete in a maturing broadband market in which most consumers already have broadband services and growth rates in new subscribers have slowed. Moreover, as described further in Item 1A of Part II of this report, certain of our competitors continue to provide broadband services at higher average transmission speeds than ours or through advanced wireless data service offerings, both of which we believe have impacted the competitiveness of certain of our broadband offerings. We also continue to expand our other strategic product offerings. The expansion of our facilities-based video service infrastructure to new markets requires us to incur substantial start-up expenses in advance of marketing and selling the service. Also, our associated content costs continue to increase and the video business has become more competitive as more options become available to customers to access video services through new technologies. The demand for new technology has increased the number of competitors offering strategic services similar to ours. Price compression and new technology from our competitors have negatively impacted the operating margins of our strategic services and we expect this trend to continue. Operating costs also impact the operating margins of our strategic services, but to a lesser extent than price compression and customer disconnects caused by competition. These operating costs include employee costs, marketing and advertising expenses, sales commissions, modem costs, Prism TV content costs, and installation costs. We believe increases in operating costs have generally had a greater impact on the operating margins of our strategic services as compared to our legacy services, principally because our strategic services rely more heavily upon the above-listed costs;

•

Legacy services. Our voice revenues have been, and we expect they will continue to be, adversely affected by access line losses and lower long-distance voice service volumes. Intense competition and product substitution continue to drive our access line losses. For example, many consumers are substituting cable and wireless voice services and electronic mail, texting and social networking non-voice services for traditional voice telecommunications services. We expect that these factors will continue to negatively impact our business. As a result of the expected loss of higher margin services associated with access lines, we continue to offer our customers service bundling and other product promotions to help mitigate this trend, as described below. Customer migration and price compression from competitive pressures have not only negatively impacted our legacy revenues, but they have also negatively impacted the operating margins of our legacy services and we expect this trend to continue. Operating costs, such as installation costs and facility costs, have also negatively impacted the operating margins of our legacy services, but to a lesser extent than customer migration and price compression. Operating costs also tend to impact our strategic services margins to a greater extent than legacy services margins as noted above;

•

Service bundling and product promotions. We offer our customers the ability to bundle multiple products and services. These customers can bundle local services with other services such as broadband, video, long-distance and wireless. While we believe our bundled service offerings can help retain customers, they also tend to lower our profit margins in the consumer segment due to the related discounts; and

•

The following tables summarize the results of operations from our consumer segment:



	Consumer Segment
	Three Months Ended September 30,					Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016			2015		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Segment revenues:
Strategic services
Broadband services (1)	$	674		658		16		2	%
Other strategic services (2)	115			105		10		10	%
Total strategic services revenues	789			763		26		3	%
Legacy services
Voice services (3)	605			664		(59	)	(9	)%
Other legacy services (4)	78			81		(3	)	(4	)%
Total legacy services revenues	683			745		(62	)	(8	)%
Data integration	—			1		(1	)	(100	)%
Total revenues	1,472			1,509		(37	)	(2	)%

Segment expenses	656			637		19		3	%
Segment income	$	816		872		(56	)	(6	)%
Segment margin percentage	55		%	58	%

_____________________________________________________________________



(1	)	Includes broadband and related services revenue
(2	)	Includes video and other revenue
(3	)	Includes local and long-distance voice revenue
(4	)	Includes other ancillary revenue



	Consumer Segment
	Nine Months Ended September 30,					Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016			2015		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Segment revenues:
Strategic services
Broadband services (1)	$	2,023		1,945		78		4	%
Other strategic services (2)	340			314		26		8	%
Total strategic services revenues	2,363			2,259		104		5	%
Legacy services
Voice services (3)	1,854			2,027		(173	)	(9	)%
Other legacy services (4)	237			221		16		7	%
Total legacy services revenues	2,091			2,248		(157	)	(7	)%
Data integration	1			2		(1	)	(50	)%
Total revenues	4,455			4,509		(54	)	(1	)%

Segment expenses	1,934			1,881		53		3	%
Segment income	$	2,521		2,628		(107	)	(4	)%
Segment margin percentage	57		%	58	%

_____________________________________________________________________



(1	)	Includes broadband and related services revenue
(2	)	Includes video and other revenue
(3	)	Includes local and long-distance voice revenue
(4	)	Includes other ancillary revenue

Segment Revenues

Consumer segment revenues decreased by $37 million, or 2%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015 and decreased by $54 million, or 1%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease in our consumer segment revenues for both periods was primarily due to the declines in our legacy services revenues, which were partially offset by increases in our strategic services revenues. The decline in our legacy services revenues for both periods was primarily due to lower local and long-distance voice service volumes associated with access line losses resulting from the factors noted above. The increase in our strategic services revenues for both periods was primarily due to rate increases resulting from various pricing initiatives on broadband, Prism TV and other strategic products and services, and increases in the number of our Prism TV customers, which were partially offset by a decline in broadband customers.

Segment Expenses

Consumer segment expenses increased by $19 million, or 3%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015. The increase in our consumer segment expenses was primarily due to increases in costs related to Prism TV (resulting from higher content volume and rates), professional fees and employee benefits expense, which were partially offset by reductions in payment processing fees and marketing and advertising expense. Consumer segment expenses increased by $53 million, or 3%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The increase in our consumer segment expenses was primarily due to increases in costs related to Prism TV (resulting from higher content volume and rates), professional fees, sales commissions and bad debt expense, which were partially offset by reductions in salaries and wages from lower headcount and payment processing fees.

Segment Income

Consumer segment income decreased by $56 million, or 6%, for the three months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the three months ended September 30, 2015 and decreased by $107 million, or 4%, for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015. The decrease for both periods was primarily due to loss of customers for legacy services and increases in the costs related to the growth in Prism TV.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Overview

At September 30, 2016, we held cash and cash equivalents of $140 million and we had $1.990 billion of borrowing capacity available under our $2 billion amended and restated revolving credit facility (referred to as our "Credit Facility", which is described further below). At September 30, 2016, cash and cash equivalents of $56 million were held in foreign bank accounts for the purpose of funding our foreign operations. Due to various factors, our access to foreign cash is generally much more restricted than our access to domestic cash.

In connection with our budgeting process in early 2016, our executive officers and our Board of Directors reviewed our sources and potential uses of cash over the next several years, including among other things the effect of substantially lower levels of federal net operating loss carryforwards available for use during 2016 (as discussed further below). Generally speaking, our principal funding source is cash from operating activities and our principal cash requirements include operating expenses, capital expenditures, income taxes, debt repayments, dividends, periodic stock repurchases, periodic pension contributions and other benefits payments. As discussed below, the amount we pay for income taxes and retiree healthcare benefits are expected to increase substantially in the near future.

Based on our current capital allocation objectives, during the remaining three months of 2016 we anticipate expending approximately $1.0 billion of cash for capital investment in property, plant and equipment and $292 million for dividends on our common stock, based on the current quarterly common stock dividend rate of $0.54 per share and the current number of outstanding common shares. During the remainder of 2016, we have scheduled debt principal payments of approximately $6 million and capital lease and other fixed payments of approximately $23 million.

We will continue to monitor our future sources and uses of cash, and anticipate that we will make adjustments to our capital allocation strategies when, as and if determined by our Board of Directors. We typically use our revolving credit facility as a source of liquidity for operating activities and our other cash requirements.

Capital Expenditures

We incur capital expenditures on an ongoing basis in order to enhance and modernize our networks, compete effectively in our markets and expand our service offerings. We evaluate capital expenditure projects based on a variety of factors, including expected strategic impacts (such as forecasted impact on revenue growth, productivity, expenses, service levels and customer retention) and our expected return on investment. The amount of capital investment is influenced by, among other things, demand for our services and products, cash flow generated by operating activities, cash required for other purposes and regulatory considerations (such as our CAF Phase 2 infrastructure buildout requirements discussed below). We estimate that our total capital expenditures will be approximately $1.0 billion, inclusive of CAF Phase 2 related capital expenditures, for the remaining three months of 2016.

Our capital expenditures continue to be focused on our strategic services. For more information on our capital spending, see Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Debt and Other Financing Arrangements

Subject to market conditions, we expect to continue to issue debt securities from time to time in the future to refinance a substantial portion of our maturing debt, including issuing Qwest Corporation debt securities to refinance its maturing debt to the extent feasible. The availability, interest rate and other terms of any new borrowings will depend on the ratings assigned to us and Qwest Corporation by credit rating agencies, among other factors. We have no debt maturities due during the remainder of 2016.

As of the date of this report, the credit ratings for the senior unsecured debt of CenturyLink, Inc. and Qwest Corporation were as follows:



Agency	CenturyLink, Inc.	Qwest Corporation
Standard & Poor's	BB	BBB-
Moody's Investors Service, Inc. ⁽¹⁾	Ba3	Ba1
Fitch Ratings	BB+	BBB-

____________________________________________________________________________


⁽¹⁾	On March 15, 2016, Moody's Investors Service, Inc. downgraded CenturyLink's rating from Ba2 to Ba3 and downgraded Qwest Corporation's rating from Baa3 to Ba1.

Our credit ratings are reviewed and adjusted from time to time by the rating agencies, and downgrades of CenturyLink, Inc's senior unsecured debt ratings could, under certain circumstances, incrementally increase the cost of our borrowing under the Credit Facility. Moreover, any additional downgrades of CenturyLink, Inc.'s or Qwest Corporation's senior unsecured debt ratings could impact our access to debt capital or further raise our borrowing costs. See "Risk Factors—Risks Affecting our Liquidity and Capital Resources" in Item 1A of Part II of this report.

Following the announcement of our pending acquisition of Level 3, Standard & Poor's indicated that CenturyLink, Inc.'s current unsecured senior debt rating of BB has been placed on watch with negative implications, Moody’s Investor Service, Inc. indicated that CenturyLink, Inc.'s current senior unsecured debt rating of Ba3 has been placed on review for downgrade and Fitch Ratings indicated that CenturyLink, Inc.'s current unsecured senior debt rating of BB+ has been placed on negative watch. Additionally, Qwest Corporation's current unsecured senior debt rating of Ba1 has been placed on review for downgrade by Moody's Investor Service, Inc. and its current unsecured senior debt rating of BBB- has been placed on negative watch by Fitch Ratings. It is expected that any downgrades would be made only following the completion of the Level 3 acquisition.

Net Operating Loss Carryforwards

In recent years, we have been using Net Operating Loss ("NOL") carryforwards to offset a large portion of our federal taxable income. At December 31, 2015, we had approximately $72 million of federal NOL carryforwards remaining. A portion of these remaining NOL carryforwards are subject to the limitations imposed by section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code ("Code"). As a result of the substantial utilization of the NOL carryforwards in prior years and the limitations imposed on portions of the remaining NOL carryforward balance, the amounts of our cash flows dedicated to the payment of federal taxes has increased and is expected to continue to increase substantially in the future. The amounts of those payments will depend upon many factors, including future earnings, tax law changes and future tax circumstances. Based on current laws (including the extension of bonus depreciation) and our current estimates of 2016 earnings, we estimate our cash income tax liability related to 2016 will be between $350 million to $450 million.

Dividends

We currently expect to continue our current practice of paying quarterly cash dividends in respect of our common stock subject to our Board of Directors' discretion to modify or terminate this practice at any time and for any reason without prior notice. Our current quarterly common stock dividend rate is $0.54 per share, as approved by our Board of Directors, which we believe is a dividend rate per share that gives us the flexibility to balance our multiple objectives of managing our business, paying our fixed commitments and returning cash to our shareholders. Assuming continued payment at this rate of $0.54 per share, our total dividends paid in the fourth quarter 2016 would be $292 million based on our current number of outstanding shares (which does not reflect shares that we might repurchase or issue in future periods). See "Risk Factors—Risks Affecting Our Business" in Item 1A of Part II of this report.

Credit Facility

Our $2 billion Credit Facility matures on December 3, 2019 and has 16 lenders, each with commitments ranging from $3.5 million to $198.5 million. The Credit Facility allows us to obtain revolving loans and to issue up to $400 million of letters of credit, which upon issuance reduces the amount available for other extensions of credit. Interest is assessed on borrowings using either the LIBOR or the base rate (each as defined in the Credit Facility) plus an applicable margin between 1.00% and 2.25% per annum for LIBOR loans and 0.00% and 1.25% per annum for base rate loans depending on our then current senior unsecured long-term debt rating. Our obligations under the Credit Facility are guaranteed by nine of our subsidiaries. At September 30, 2016, we had $10 million in borrowings and no amounts of letters of credit outstanding under the Credit Facility.

Under the Credit Facility, we, and our indirect subsidiary, Qwest Corporation, must maintain a debt to EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, as defined in our Credit Facility) ratio of not more than 4.0:1.0 and 2.85:1.0, respectively, as of the last day of each fiscal quarter for the four quarters then ended. The Credit Facility also contains a negative pledge covenant, which generally requires us to secure equally and ratably any advances under the Credit Facility if we pledge assets or permit liens on our property for the benefit of other debtholders. The Credit Facility also has a cross payment default provision, and the Credit Facility and certain of our debt securities also have cross acceleration provisions. When present, these provisions could have a wider impact on liquidity than might otherwise arise from a default or acceleration of a single debt instrument. Our debt to EBITDA ratios could be adversely affected by a wide variety of events, including unforeseen expenses or contingencies. This could reduce our financing flexibility due to potential restrictions on incurring additional debt under certain provisions of our debt agreements or, in certain circumstances, could result in a default under certain provisions of such agreements.

Term Loans, Revolving Line of Credit and Revolving Letter of Credit

At September 30, 2016, CenturyLink, Inc. owed $341 million under a term loan maturing in 2019 and Qwest Corporation owed $100 million under a term loan maturing in 2025. Both of these term loans include covenants substantially similar to those set forth in the Credit Facility.

In January 2015, CenturyLink, Inc. entered into a $100 million uncommitted revolving line of credit with one of the lenders under the Credit Facility. In August 2016, the uncommitted revolving line of credit note was modified to reduce the maximum borrowing capacity under the uncommitted revolving line of credit to $85 million. The amount available under this uncommitted revolving line of credit is reduced by any amounts that we then owe to this one lender under the Credit Facility. Interest is paid monthly based upon the LIBOR plus an applicable margin between 1.00% and 2.25% per annum. At September 30, 2016, we had $75 million borrowings outstanding under this uncommitted revolving line of credit.

We have a $160 million uncommitted revolving letter of credit facility which enables us to provide letters of credit under terms that may be more favorable than those under the Credit Facility. At September 30, 2016, our outstanding letters of credit totaled $108 million under this facility.

For information on our outstanding debt securities, see Note 2—Long-Term Debt and Credit Facilities.

Pension and Post-retirement Benefit Obligations

We are subject to material obligations under our existing defined benefit pension plans and post-retirement benefit plans. At December 31, 2015, the accounting unfunded status of our qualified and non-qualified defined benefit pension plans and post-retirement benefit plans was $2.277 billion and $3.374 billion, respectively. See Note 7—Employee Benefits to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 for additional information about our pension and post-retirement benefit arrangements.

Benefits paid by our qualified pension plan are paid through a trust that holds all of the plan's assets. Based on current laws and circumstances, we do not expect any contributions to be required for our qualified pension plan during the remainder of 2016. The amount of required contributions to our qualified pension plan in 2017 and beyond will depend on a variety of factors, most of which are beyond our control, including earnings on plan investments, prevailing interest rates, demographic experience, changes in plan benefits and changes in funding laws and regulations. We occasionally make voluntary contributions in addition to required contributions, including a voluntary contribution to the trust of $100 million during the third quarter of 2016.

Substantially all of our post-retirement health care and life insurance benefits plans are unfunded. Several trusts hold assets that are used to help cover the health care costs of certain retirees. As of December 31, 2015, the fair value of these trust assets was approximately $193 million. Although most of these assets are relatively liquid, a small portion of these assets is comprised of investments with restricted liquidity. We estimate that the more liquid assets in these trusts will be substantially depleted in providing continuing reimbursements for covered post-retirement health care costs in 2016. Thereafter, covered benefits will be paid either directly by us or from these trusts as the remaining assets become liquid. As described further in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, aggregate benefits paid by us under these plans (net of participant contributions and direct subsidy receipts) were $116 million, $88 million and $157 million for the years ended December 31, 2015, 2014 and 2013, respectively, while the amounts paid from the trust were $163 million, $219 million and $136 million, respectively. For additional information on our expected future benefits payments for our post-retirement benefit plans, see Note 7—Employee Benefits to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

For 2016, our estimated annual long-term rate of return is 7.0% for both the pension plan trust assets and post-retirement plans trust assets, based on the assets currently held. However, actual returns could be substantially different.

Future Contractual Obligations

For information regarding our estimated future contractual obligations, see the MD&A discussion included in Item 7 of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Workforce Reductions

Connect America Fund

In 2015, we accepted CAF funding from the FCC of approximately $500 million per year for six years to fund the deployment of voice and broadband capable infrastructure for approximately 1.2 million rural households and businesses in 33 states under the CAF Phase 2 support program. The funding from the CAF Phase 2 support program is expected to substantially supplant the funding we previously received from the interstate USF program that we previously utilized to support voice services in high-cost rural markets in these 33 states. In late 2015, we began receiving these payments from the FCC under the new CAF Phase 2 support program, which included monthly support payments at a higher rate than under the interstate USF support program. We received a substantial one-time transitional payment of $127 million from the FCC in the third quarter of 2015, of which $112 million was attributable to the first six months of 2015. The transitional payment was designed to align the prior USF payments with the new CAF Phase 2 payments for the full year 2015. Consequently, we do not expect funding from the CAF Phase 2 support program (including the prior USF funding) to materially change our other operating revenues for the full year 2016 when compared to the full year 2015.

As a result of accepting CAF Phase 2 support payments for 33 states, we will be obligated to make substantial capital expenditures to build broadband infrastructure over the next several years. See "Capital Expenditures" above.

For additional information on the FCC's CAF order and the USF program, see "Business—Regulation" in Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 and see "Risk Factors—Risks Affecting our Liquidity and Capital Resources" in Item 1A of Part II of this report.

In 2013, under the CAF Phase 1 Round 2 program, we received $40 million in funding for deployment of broadband services in rural areas. In compliance with program terms, we returned $23 million for failing to meet interim buildout milestones within the FCC specified time frames. We repaid $14 million of funding in the third quarter of 2016 and $9 million of funding in October 2016. As of September 30, 2016, we have included $9 million of CAF 1 Round 2 funding in other current liabilities and the remaining $17 million of funding in other noncurrent liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet. At the conclusion of the CAF 1 Round 2 program in the first quarter 2017, we will have an opportunity to reclaim all or a portion of the interim refund if we ultimately meet the CAF 1 Round 2 buildout targets.

Historical Information

The following table summarizes our consolidated cash flow activities:



	Nine Months Ended September 30,					Increase / (Decrease)
	2016			2015		Increase / (Decrease)
	(Dollars in millions)
Net cash provided by operating activities	$	3,512		3,956		(444	)
Net cash used in investing activities	(2,012		)	(2,022	)	(10	)
Net cash used in financing activities	(1,486		)	(1,707	)	(221	)

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased by $444 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015 primarily due to negative variances in the changes in accounts receivable, accrued income and other taxes (resulting from an increase in cash paid for taxes), other current assets and liabilities, net and net income adjusted for non-cash items, which were partially offset by a positive variance in the change in accounts payable. Our payments of federal taxes increased substantially in the three months ended September 30, 2016 when compared to prior periods. The increase was the result of substantial utilization of NOL carryforwards as discussed above and the deferral of tax payments earlier in 2016 due to federal concessions for flood relief to Ouachita Parish where our corporate headquarters is located. For additional information about our operating results, see "Results of Operations" above.

Net cash used in investing activities decreased by $10 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015 primarily due to a decrease in payments for property, plant and equipment, which was substantially offset by an increase in cash used in acquisitions during the first half of 2016.

Net cash used in financing activities decreased by $221 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 as compared to the nine months ended September 30, 2015 primarily due to a reduction of common stock repurchases, which was partially offset by an increase in net debt paydowns attributable to the timing of the use of net proceeds from debt issuances to pay down debt.

On September 19, 2016, a subsidiary of Embarq Corporation redeemed all of the less than $4 million of its 8.77% Notes due 2017, which resulted in an immaterial loss.

On September 15, 2016, Qwest Corporation redeemed $287 million of its 7.5% Notes due 2051, which resulted in a loss of $9 million.

On August 29, 2016, Qwest Corporation redeemed all $661 million of its 7.375% Notes due 2051, which resulted in a loss of $18 million.

On June 1, 2016, Embarq Corporation paid at maturity the $1.184 billion principal amount and accrued and unpaid interest due under its 7.082% Notes.

On May 2, 2016, Qwest Corporation paid at maturity the $235 million principal amount and accrued and unpaid interest due under its 8.375% Notes.

See Note 2—Long-Term Debt and Credit Facilities, for additional information on our outstanding debt securities.

Other Matters

In February 2015, the FCC adopted new regulations that regulate broadband services as a public utility under Title II of the Communications Act. In light of pending litigation, we believe it is premature for us to determine the ultimate impact of the new regulations on our operations; however, we currently expect that they will negatively impact our operations. For additional information, see “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters” in Item 1A of Part II of this report.

CenturyLink has cash management arrangements with certain of its principal subsidiaries, in which substantial portions of the subsidiaries' cash is regularly advanced to CenturyLink. Although CenturyLink periodically repays these advances to fund the subsidiaries' cash requirements throughout the year, at any given point in time CenturyLink may owe a substantial sum to our subsidiaries under these advances, which, in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, are eliminated in consolidation and therefore not recognized on our consolidated balance sheets.

We also are involved in various legal proceedings that could substantially impact our financial position. See Note 8—Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements in Item 1 of Part I of this report for the current status of such legal proceedings.

As discussed further in Note 12—Subsequent Events to our consolidated financial statements in Item 1 of Part I of this report, on November 3, 2016, we entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement with a consortium led by BC Partners, Inc. and Medina Capital ("Purchaser") under which we propose to sell our data centers and colocation business for cash and equity valued at $2.3 billion, subject to offsets for the capital lease obligations and various working capital and other adjustments. The assets that will be sold and the liabilities to be assumed are currently included in our continuing operations. As part of the transaction, Purchaser will assume our capital lease obligations, which amounted to $320 million as of September 30, 2016, related to the properties that we will sell. The parties anticipate closing the transaction in the first quarter of 2017. Strategic services revenues generated from our colocation services were $469 million and $463 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.

The following table presents additional metrics related to our data centers:



	As of September 30,				Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2016		2015		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change

Hosting Data Center Metrics
Number of data centers ⁽¹⁾	58		59		(1)		(2	)%
Sellable square feet, million sq ft	1.54		1.59		(0.05)		(3	)%
Billed square feet, million sq ft	1.03		1.01		0.02		2	%
Utilization	67	%	64	%	3	%	5	%

______________________________________________________________________


(1)	We define a data center as any facility where we market, sell and deliver either colocation services, multi-tenant managed services or both.

Market Risk

We are exposed to market risk from changes in interest rates on our variable rate long-term debt obligations and fluctuations in certain foreign currencies. We seek to maintain a favorable mix of fixed and variable rate debt in an effort to limit interest costs and cash flow volatility resulting from changes in rates.

Management periodically reviews our exposure to interest rate fluctuations and periodically implements strategies to manage the exposure. From time to time, we have used derivative instruments to (i) lock-in or swap our exposure to changing or variable interest rates for fixed interest rates or (ii) to swap obligations to pay fixed interest rates for variable interest rates. As of September 30, 2016, we had no such instruments outstanding. We have established policies and procedures for risk assessment and the approval, reporting and monitoring of derivative instrument activities. We do not hold or issue derivative financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

By operating internationally, we are exposed to the risk of fluctuations in the foreign currencies used by our international subsidiaries, primarily the British Pound and secondarily the Canadian Dollar, the Japanese Yen, the Hong Kong Dollar and the Singapore Dollar. Although the percentages of our consolidated revenues and costs that are denominated in these currencies are immaterial, future volatility in exchange rates and an increase in the number of transactions could adversely impact our consolidated results of operations.

We do not believe that there were any material changes to market risks arising from changes in interest rates or fluctuations in foreign currencies for the nine months ended September 30, 2016, when compared to the disclosures provided in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Certain shortcomings are inherent in the method of analysis presented in the computation of exposures to market risks. Actual values may differ materially from those disclosed by us from time to time if market conditions vary from the assumptions used in the analyses performed. These analyses only incorporate the risk exposures that existed at September 30, 2016.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We have no special purpose or limited purpose entities that provide off-balance sheet financing, liquidity, or market or credit risk support and we do not engage in leasing, hedging, or other similar activities that expose us to any significant liabilities that are not (i) reflected on the face of the consolidated financial statements, (ii) disclosed in Note 14—Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015 or (iii) discussed under the heading "Market Risk" above.

Other Information

Our website is www.centurylink.com. We routinely post important investor information in the "Investor Relations" section of our website at ir.centurylink.com. The information contained on, or that may be accessed through, our website is not part of this quarterly report. You may obtain free electronic copies of our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports in the "Investor Relations" section of our website (ir.centurylink.com) under the heading "SEC Filings." These reports are available on our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). From time to time, we also use our website to webcast our earnings calls and certain of our meetings with investors or other members of the investment community.

In addition to historical information, this quarterly report includes certain forward-looking statements that are based upon our judgment and assumptions as of the date of this report concerning future developments and events, many of which are beyond our control. These forward-looking statements, and the assumptions upon which they are based, are not guarantees of future results, are inherently speculative and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual events and results may differ materially from those anticipated, estimated, projected or implied by us in those statements if one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if underlying assumptions prove incorrect. Factors that could affect actual results include but are not limited to: the effects of competition from a wide variety of competitive providers, including lower demand for our legacy offerings; the effects of new, emerging or competing technologies, including those that could make our products less desirable or obsolete; the effects of ongoing changes in the regulation of the communications industry, including the outcome of regulatory or judicial proceedings relating to intercarrier compensation, interconnection obligations, access charges, universal service, broadband deployment, data protection and net neutrality; our ability to effectively adjust to changes in the communications industry, and changes in the composition of our markets and product mix; possible changes in the demand for, or pricing of, our products and services, including our ability to effectively respond to increased demand for high-speed broadband service; our ability to successfully maintain the quality and profitability of our existing product and service offerings and to introduce new offerings on a timely and cost-effective basis; the adverse impact on our business and network from possible equipment failures, service outages, security breaches or similar events impacting our network; our ability to generate cash flows sufficient to fund our financial commitments and objectives, including our capital expenditures, operating costs, debt repayments, dividends, periodic share repurchases, periodic pension contributions and other benefits payments; changes in our operating plans, corporate strategies, dividend payment plans or other capital allocation plans, whether based upon changes in our cash flows, cash requirements, financial performance, financial position, or otherwise; our ability to effectively retain and hire key personnel and to successfully negotiate collective bargaining agreements on reasonable terms without work stoppages; our ability to successfully complete our pending acquisition of Level 3, including timely receiving all shareholder and regulatory approvals and realizing the anticipated benefits of the transaction; increases in the costs of our pension, health, post-employment or other benefits, including those caused by changes in markets, interest rates, mortality rates, demographics or regulations; adverse changes in our access to credit markets on favorable terms, whether caused by changes in our financial position, lower debt credit ratings, unstable markets or otherwise; our ability to maintain favorable relations with our key business partners, suppliers, vendors, landlords and financial institutions; our ability to effectively manage our network buildout project and other expansion opportunities; our ability to collect our receivables from financially troubled customers; any adverse developments in legal or regulatory proceedings involving us; changes in tax, communications, pension, healthcare or other laws or regulations, in governmental support programs, or in general government funding levels; the effects of changes in accounting policies or practices, including potential future impairment charges; the effects of terrorism, adverse weather or other natural or man-made disasters; the effects of more general factors such as changes in interest rates, in operating costs, in general market, labor, economic or geo-political conditions (including uncertainty about the long-term prospects of the European Union, China and certain other economies), or in public policy; and other risks referenced in Item 1A or elsewhere in this Quarterly Report or other of our filings with the SEC. You should be aware that new factors may emerge from time to time and it is not possible for us to identify all such factors nor can we predict the impact of each such factor on the business or the extent to which any one or more factors may cause actual results to differ from those reflected in any forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, we caution investors not to unduly rely upon our forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events or developments, changed circumstances, or otherwise. Furthermore, any information about our intentions contained in any of our forward-looking statements reflects our intentions as of the date of this report, and is based upon, among other things, existing regulatory, technological, industry, competitive, economic and market conditions, and our assumptions as of such date. We may change our intentions, strategies or plans (including our dividend or stock repurchase plans) at any time and without notice, based upon any changes in such factors, in our assumptions or otherwise.

ITEM 3. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

See "Liquidity and Capital Resources—Market Risk" in Item 2 of Part I above for quantitative and qualitative disclosures about market risk.

ITEM 4. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

Disclosure Controls and Procedures

The Company maintains disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”)) designed to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. These include controls and procedures designed to ensure that this information is accumulated and communicated to the Company’s management, including its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Management, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer, Glen F. Post, III, and our Chief Financial Officer, R. Stewart Ewing, Jr., evaluated the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as of September 30, 2016. Based on this evaluation, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of September 30, 2016, in providing reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in this report was accumulated and communicated in the manner provided above.

The effectiveness of our or any system of disclosure controls and procedures is subject to certain limitations, including the exercise of judgment in designing, implementing and evaluating the controls and procedures, the assumptions used in identifying the likelihood of future events and the inability to eliminate misconduct completely. As a result, there can be no assurance that our disclosure controls and procedures will detect all errors or fraud. By their nature, our or any system of disclosure controls and procedures can provide only reasonable assurance regarding management's control objectives.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the third quarter of 2016 that materially affected, or that we believe are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II—OTHER INFORMATION

ITEM 1. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

The information contained in Note 8—Commitments and Contingencies included in Item 1 of Part I of this report is incorporated herein by reference.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following discussion of “risk factors” identifies the most significant risks or uncertainties that could (i) materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, liquidity or prospects or (ii) cause our actual results to differ materially from our anticipated results or other expectations. The following information should be read in conjunction with “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this report. Please note that the following discussion is not intended to comprehensively list all risks or uncertainties faced by us. Our operations or actual results could also be similarly impacted by additional risks and uncertainties that are not currently known to us, that we currently deem to be immaterial, that arise in the future or that are not specific to us, such as general economic conditions.

Risks Affecting Our Business

We may not be able to compete successfully against current or future competitors.

Each of our offerings to our residential and business customers face increasingly intense competition from a variety of sources under evolving market conditions. We expect these trends will continue. In addition to competition from larger national telecommunications providers, we are facing increasing competition from several other sources, including cable and satellite companies, wireless providers, technology companies, broadband providers, device providers, resellers, sales agents and facilities-based providers using their own networks as well as those leasing parts of our network. In particular, (i) intense competition from wireless and other communications providers has led to a long-term systemic decline in the number of our customers for wireline voice services, (ii) strong competition from cable companies and others has impacted the growth of our broadband operations and (iii) aggressive competition from a wide range of technology companies and other market entrants has limited the prospects for our cloud computing operations. For more detailed information, see "Competition" under Item 1 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Some of our current and potential competitors (i) offer products or services that are substitutes for our wireline voice services, including wireless voice and non-voice communication services, (ii) offer a more comprehensive range of communications products and services, (iii) offer products or services with features that we cannot readily match in some or all of our markets, including faster average broadband transmission speeds and greater content, (iv) offer shorter installation intervals, allowing customers to begin receiving services sooner after ordering, (v) have market presence, engineering and technical capabilities, and financial and other resources greater than ours, (vi) have larger or more diverse networks with greater transmission capacity or more or larger data centers, (vii) conduct operations or raise capital at a lower cost than us, (viii) are subject to less regulation, which we believe enables such competitors to operate more flexibly than us with respect to certain offerings, (ix) offer services nationally or internationally to a larger geographic area or larger base of customers, (x) have substantially stronger brand names, which may provide them with greater pricing power than ours, or (xi) have larger operations than ours, which may enable them to offer higher compensation packages in connection with recruiting and retaining top technological, managerial and operational talent. Consequently, these competitors may be better equipped to provide more attractive offerings, to charge lower prices for their products and services, to develop and expand their communications and network infrastructure more quickly, to adapt more swiftly to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, to devote greater resources to the marketing and sale of their products and services, to provide more comprehensive customer service, to provide greater resources to research and development initiatives and to take advantage of acquisition or other opportunities more readily. In the past, several of our competitors and their operations have grown through acquisitions and aggressive product development. The continued growth of our competitors could further enhance their competitive positions.

Competition could adversely impact us in several ways, including (i) the loss of customers and market share, (ii) the possibility of customers reducing their usage of our services or shifting to less profitable services, (iii) reduced traffic on our networks, (iv) our need to expend substantial time or money on new capital improvement projects, (v) our need to lower prices or increase marketing expenses to remain competitive and (vi) our inability to diversify by successfully offering new products or services.

We are continually taking steps to respond to these competitive pressures, but these efforts may not be successful. Our operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected if these initiatives are unsuccessful or insufficient and if we otherwise are unable to sufficiently stem our continuing access line losses and our legacy revenue declines. If this occurred, our ability to pay our debt and other obligations and to re-invest in the business would also be adversely affected.

Rapid technological changes could significantly impact our competitive and financial position.

The communications industry has been and continues to be impacted by significant technological changes, which in general are enhancing non-voice communications and enabling a broader array of companies to offer services competitive with ours. Many of those technological changes are (i) displacing or reducing demand for our wireline voice services, (ii) enabling the development of competitive products or services, or (iii) enabling our current customers to reduce or bypass use of our networks. Rapid changes in technology are increasing the competitiveness of the cloud, hosting, colocation and other IT services industries. In addition, demand for our broadband services has been constrained by certain technologies permitting cable companies and other competitors to deliver faster average broadband transmission speeds than ours. Demand for our broadband services could be further reduced by advanced wireless data transmission technologies being deployed by wireless providers, including “long-term evolution” or “LTE” technologies, especially if these wireless providers continue to increase their broadband transmission speed and decrease their service rates. To enhance the competitiveness of our broadband services, we will likely be required to expend additional capital to augment the capabilities of our copper-based services or to install more fiber optic cable.

We may not be able to accurately predict or respond to changes in technology or industry standards, or to the introduction of newly-offered services. Any of these developments could make some or all of our offerings less desirable or even obsolete. These developments could also require us to (i) expend capital or other resources in excess of currently contemplated levels, (ii) forego the development or provision of products or services that others can provide more efficiently, or (iii) make other changes to our operating plans, corporate strategies or capital allocation plans, any of which could be contrary to the expectations of our security holders or could adversely impact our operations. If we are not able to develop new products and services to keep pace with technological advances, or if those products and services are not widely accepted by customers, our ability to compete could be adversely affected and our market share could decline. Any inability to effectively respond to technological changes could also adversely affect our operating results and financial condition, as well as our ability to service debt and fund other commitments or initiatives.

Even if we succeed in adapting to changes in technology or industry standards by developing new products or services, there is no assurance that the new products or services would have a positive impact on our profit margins or financial performance.

In addition to introducing new technologies and offerings, we may need, from time to time, to phase out outdated and unprofitable technologies and services. If we are unable to do so on a cost-effective basis, we could experience reduced profits.

For additional information on the risks of increased expenditures, see “Risk Factors—Risks Affecting our Liquidity and Capital Resources—Our business requires us to incur substantial capital and operating expenses, which reduces our available free cash flow.”

Our legacy services continue to experience declining revenues, and our efforts to offset these declines may not be successful.

Primarily as a result of the competitive and technological changes discussed above, we have experienced a prolonged systemic decline in our access lines, long-distance revenues and network access revenues. We have also experienced a decline in our private line revenues due to our customers' optimization of their networks, industry consolidation, price compression and technological migration to higher-speed services.

We have taken a variety of steps to counter these declines in our legacy services revenues, including:


•	an increased focus on selling a broader range of higher-growth strategic services, which are described in detail elsewhere in this report;


•	an increased focus on serving a broader range of business, governmental and wholesale customers;


•	greater use of service bundles; and


•	acquisitions to increase our scale and strengthen our product offerings, including new products and services.

However, for the reasons described elsewhere in this report, most of our strategic services generate lower profit margins than our legacy services, and some can be expected to experience slowing growth as increasing numbers of our existing or potential customers subscribe to our newer strategic product and service offerings. Moreover, we cannot assure you that the revenues generated from our new offerings will offset revenue losses associated with our legacy services. In addition, our reliance on third parties to provide certain of these strategic services could constrain our flexibility, as described further below.

Our ability to successfully introduce new product or service offerings on a timely and cost-effective basis could be constrained by a range of factors, including network limitations, limited capital, an inability to attract key personnel with the necessary skills, intellectual property constraints, testing delays, or an inability to act as quickly as smaller, more nimble start-up competitors. Similarly, our ability to grow through acquisitions could be limited by several factors, including our leverage and inability to identify attractively-priced target companies. For these reasons, we cannot assure you that our new product or service offerings will be as successful as anticipated, or that we will be able to continue to grow through acquisitions.

We may not be able to successfully adjust to changes in our industry, our markets and our product mix.

Ongoing changes in the communications industry have fundamentally changed consumers’ communications expectations and requirements. In response to these changes, we have substantially altered our product and service offerings through acquisitions and internal product development. Many of these changes have placed a higher premium on sales, marketing and product development functions, and necessitated ongoing changes in our processes and operating protocols, as well as periodic reorganizations of our sales and leadership teams. In addition, we now offer a more complex range of products and services, operate larger and more complex networks and serve a much larger and more diverse set of customers. Consequently, we now face greater challenges in effectively managing and administering our operations and allocating capital and other resources to our various offerings. For all these reasons, we cannot assure you that our efforts to adjust to these changes will be timely or successful.

Our revenues and cash flows may not be adequate to fund all of our current objectives.

As noted in the risk factor disclosures appearing above and below, changes in competition, technology, regulation and demand for our legacy services continue to place downward pressure on our consolidated revenues and cash flows. During each of 2015, 2014 and 2013, we experienced declines in revenues and net cash provided by operating activities as compared to prior periods. Our cash flows will be further impacted by other changes discussed herein, including anticipated increases in our cash tax payments due to our impending depletion of substantially all of our net operating loss carryforwards and additional post-retirement health care payments as a result of our impending depletion of substantially all of the post-retirement benefit plan trust assets.

We rely upon our consolidated revenues and cash flows to fund our commitments and business objectives, including without limitation, funding our capital expenditures, operating costs, debt repayments, dividends, periodic share repurchases, periodic pension contributions and other benefits payments. We cannot assure you that our future cash flows will be sufficient to fund all of our cash requirements in the manner currently contemplated. Our inability to fund certain of these payments could have an adverse impact on our business, operations or competitive position or on the value of our securities.

We could be harmed by security breaches, damages or other significant disruptions or failures of our networks, information technology infrastructure or related systems, or of those we operate for certain of our customers.

We are materially reliant upon our networks, information technology infrastructure (including data centers) and related technology systems (including our billing and provisioning systems) to provide products and services to our customers and to manage our operations and affairs. We face the risk, as does any company, of a security breach or significant disruption of our information technology infrastructure and related systems. As a communications company that transmits large amounts of sensitive and proprietary information over communications networks, we face an added risk that a security breach or other significant disruption of our public networks or information technology infrastructure and related systems that we develop, install, operate and maintain for certain of our business customers (which includes our wholesale and governmental customers) could lead to material interruptions or curtailments of service. Moreover, in connection with processing and storing confidential customer data, we face a heightened risk that a security breach or disruption could result in unauthorized access to our customers’ proprietary information on our public networks or internal systems or the systems that we operate and maintain for certain of our customers.

We make significant efforts to maintain the security and integrity of information and systems under our control, and maintain contingency plans in the event of security breaches or other system disruptions. Nonetheless, we cannot assure you that our security efforts and measures will prevent unauthorized access to our systems, loss or destruction of data (including confidential customer information), account takeovers, unavailability of service, computer viruses, malware, distributed denial-of-service attacks, or other forms of cyber-attacks or similar events. These threats may derive from human error, hardware or software vulnerabilities, fraud, malice or sabotage on the part of employees, third parties or other nations, or could result from aging equipment or other accidental technological failure. These threats may also arise from failure or breaches of systems owned, operated or controlled by other unaffiliated operators to the extent we rely on such other operations to deliver services to our customers.

Similar to other large telecommunications companies, we are a constant target of cyber-attacks of varying degrees. Although some of these attacks have resulted in security breaches, to date, none of these breaches have resulted in a material adverse effect on our operating results or financial condition. You should be aware, however, that defenses against cyber-attacks currently available to U.S. companies are unlikely to prevent intrusions by a highly-determined, highly-sophisticated hacker. Consequently, you should assume that we will be unable to implement security barriers or other preventative measures that repel all future cyber-attacks. Any such future security breaches or disruptions could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition, especially in light of the growing frequency, scope and well-documented sophistication of cyber-attacks and intrusions.

Although we maintain insurance coverage that may, subject to policy terms and conditions (including self-insured deductibles, coverage restrictions and monetary coverage caps), cover certain aspects of our cyber risks, such insurance coverage may be unavailable or insufficient to cover our losses.

Additional risks to our network, infrastructure and related systems include:


•	power losses or physical damage, whether caused by fire, adverse weather conditions, terrorism, sabotage, vandalism or otherwise;


•	capacity or system configuration limitations, including those resulting from changes in our customer's usage patterns, the introduction of new technologies or products, or incompatibilities between our newer and older systems;


•	theft or failure of our equipment;


•	software or hardware obsolescence, defects or malfunctions;


•	deficiencies in our processes or controls;


•	programming, processing and other human error; and


•	service failures of our third-party vendors and other disruptions that are beyond our control.

Due to these factors, from time to time in the ordinary course of our business we experience short disruptions in our service, and could experience more significant disruptions in the future.

Disruptions, security breaches and other significant failures of the above-described networks and systems could:


•	disrupt the proper functioning of these networks and systems, which could in turn disrupt (i) our operations or (ii) the operations of certain of our customers who rely upon us to provide services critical to their operations;


•	require significant management attention or financial resources to remedy the damages that result or to change our systems, including expenses to repair systems, add new personnel or develop additional protective systems;


•	result in the unauthorized access to, and destruction, loss, theft, misappropriation or release of proprietary, confidential, sensitive, classified or otherwise valuable information of ours, our customers or our customers’ end users, including trade secrets, which others could use for competitive, disruptive, destructive or otherwise harmful purposes and outcomes;


•	require us to notify customers, regulatory agencies or the public of data breaches;


•	require us to provide credits for future service under certain service level commitments we have provided contractually to our customers or to offer expensive incentives to retain customers;


•	subject us to claims for damages, fines, penalties, termination or other remedies under our customer contracts or service standards set by state regulatory commissions, which in certain cases could exceed our insurance coverage; or


•	result in a loss of business, damage our reputation among our customers and the public generally, subject us to additional regulatory scrutiny or expose us to prolonged litigation.

We could experience difficulties in expanding and updating our technical infrastructure.

Our ability to expand and update our systems and information technology infrastructure in response to our growth and changing business needs is important to our ability to maintain and develop attractive product and service offerings. As discussed further under “Business—Network Architecture” in Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, we are currently undertaking several complex, costly and time-consuming projects to simplify and modernize our network, which combines our legacy network and the networks of companies we have acquired in the past. Unanticipated delays in the completion of these projects may lead to increased project costs or operational inefficiencies. In addition, there may be issues related to our expanded or updated infrastructure that are not identified by our testing processes, and which may only become evident after we have started to fully utilize the redesigned systems. Our failure to modernize and upgrade our technology infrastructure could have adverse consequences, including the delayed implementation of new service offerings, decreased competitiveness of existing service offerings, network instabilities, increased operating or acquisition integration costs, service or billing interruptions, and the diversion of development resources.

Any or all of the foregoing developments could have a negative impact on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Negative publicity may adversely impact us.

Outages or other service failures of networks operated by us or other operators could cause substantial adverse publicity affecting us specifically or our industry generally. In either case, media coverage and public statements that insinuate improper actions by us or other operators, regardless of their factual accuracy or truthfulness, may result in negative publicity, litigation, governmental investigations or additional regulations. Addressing negative publicity and any resulting litigation or investigations may distract management, increase costs and divert resources. Negative publicity may have an adverse impact on our reputation and the morale of our employees, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

If we fail to hire and retain qualified executives, managers and employees, our operating results could be harmed.

Our future success depends on our ability to identify, hire, train and retain executives, managers and employees with technological, engineering, product development, operational, provisioning, marketing, sales, administrative and managerial skills. There is a shortage of qualified personnel in several of these fields nationally and in our headquarters city of Monroe, Louisiana, in particular. We compete with several other companies for this limited pool of potential employees. As our industry increasingly becomes more competitive, it could become especially difficult to attract and retain top personnel with skills in high demand. In addition, subject to limited exceptions, none of our executives or domestic employees have long-term employment agreements. For all these reasons, there is no assurance that our efforts to recruit and retain qualified personnel will be successful.

Increases in broadband usage may cause network capacity limitations, resulting in service disruptions, reduced capacity or slower transmission speeds for our customers.

Video streaming services, gaming and peer-to-peer file sharing applications use significantly more bandwidth than other Internet activity such as web browsing and email. As use of these newer services continues to grow, our broadband customers will likely use much more bandwidth than in the past. If this occurs, we could be required to make significant capital expenditures to increase network capacity in order to avoid service disruptions, service degradation or slower transmission speeds for our customers. Alternatively, we could choose to implement network management practices to reduce the network capacity available to bandwidth-intensive activities during certain times in market areas experiencing congestion, which could negatively affect our ability to retain and attract customers in affected markets. While we believe demand for these services may drive broadband customers to pay for faster broadband speeds, competitive or regulatory constraints may preclude us from recovering the costs of the necessary network investments. This could result in an adverse impact to our operating margins, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We have been accused of infringing the intellectual property rights of others and will likely face similar accusations in the future, which could subject us to costly and time-consuming litigation or require us to seek third-party licenses.

From time to time, we receive notices from third parties or are named in lawsuits filed by third parties claiming we have infringed or are infringing upon their intellectual property rights. We are currently responding to several of these notices and claims. Like other communications companies, we have received an increasing number of these notices and claims in the past several years, and expect this industry-wide trend will continue. Responding to these claims may require us to expend significant time and money defending our use of the applicable technology, and divert management’s time and resources away from other business. In certain instances, we may be required to enter into licensing agreements requiring royalty payments or, in the case of litigation, to pay damages. If we are required to take one or more of these actions, our profit margins may decline. In addition, in responding to these claims, we may be required to stop selling or redesign one or more of our products or services, which could significantly and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Similarly, from time to time, we may need to obtain the right to use certain patents or other intellectual property from third parties to be able to offer new products and services. If we cannot license or otherwise obtain rights to use any required technology from a third party on reasonable terms, our ability to offer new products and services may be prohibited, restricted, made more costly or delayed.

We may not be successful in protecting and enforcing our intellectual property rights.

We rely on various patents, copyright, trade names, trademark, service mark, trade secret and other similar laws, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual restrictions, to establish and protect our proprietary rights. The steps we have taken, however, may not prevent unauthorized use or the reverse engineering of our technology. Others may independently develop technologies that are substantially equivalent, superior to, or otherwise competitive to the technologies we employ in our services or that infringe on our intellectual property. We may be unable to prevent competitors from acquiring proprietary rights that are similar to or infringe upon our proprietary rights, or to prevent our current or former employees from using or disclosing to others our proprietary information. Enforcement of our intellectual property rights may depend on initiating legal actions against parties who infringe or misappropriate our proprietary information, but these actions may not be successful, even when our rights have been infringed. If we are unsuccessful in protecting or enforcing our intellectual property rights, our business, competitive position, results of operations and financial condition could be adversely affected.

Our operations, financial performance and liquidity are materially reliant on various third parties.

Reliance on other communications providers. To offer voice or data services in certain of our markets, we must either lease network capacity from, or interconnect our network with the infrastructure of, other communications companies who typically compete against us in those markets. Our reliance on these lease or interconnection arrangements limits our control over the quality of our services and exposes us to the risk that our ability to market our services could be adversely impacted by changes in the plans or properties of the carriers upon which we are reliant. In addition, we are exposed to the risk that the other carriers may be unwilling to continue or renew these arrangements in the future on terms favorable to us, or at all. This risk is heightened when the other carrier is a competitor of ours and may benefit from terminating the agreement. If we lose these arrangements and cannot timely replace them, our ability to provide services to our customers and conduct our business could be materially adversely affected.

Conversely, certain of our operations carry a significant amount of voice or data traffic for other communications providers. Their reliance on our services exposes us to the risk that they may transfer all or a portion of this traffic from our network to networks built, owned or leased by them, thereby reducing our revenues. For additional information, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Segment Results” included in Item 2 of Part I of this report.

We also rely on reseller and sales agency arrangements with other communications companies to provide some of the services that we offer to our customers, including video services and wireless products and services. As a reseller or sales agent, we do not control the availability, retail price, design, function, quality, reliability, customer service or branding of these products and services, nor do we directly control all of the marketing and promotion of these products and services. Similar to the risks described above regarding our reliance upon other carriers, we could be adversely affected if these communication companies fail to maintain competitive products or services, or fail to continue to make them available to us on attractive terms, or at all.

Our operations and financial performance could be adversely affected if our relationships with any of these other communications companies are disrupted or terminated for any other reason, including if such other companies:


•	become bankrupt or experience substantial financial difficulties;


•	suffer work stoppages or other labor strife;


•	challenge our right to receive payments or services under applicable regulations or the terms of our existing contract arrangements; or


•	are otherwise unable or unwilling to make payments or provide services to us.

Reliance on other key suppliers and vendors. We depend on a limited number of suppliers and vendors for equipment and services relating to our network infrastructure. Our local exchange carrier networks consist of central office and remote sites, all with advanced digital switches. If any of these suppliers experience interruptions or other problems delivering or servicing these network components on a timely basis, our operations could suffer significantly. To the extent that proprietary technology of a supplier is an integral component of our network, we may have limited flexibility to purchase key network components from alternative suppliers and may be adversely affected if third parties assert patent infringement claims against our suppliers or us. We also rely on a limited number of (i) software vendors to support our business management systems, (ii) content suppliers to provide programming to our video operations, and (iii) contractors to assist us in connection with our network construction and maintenance activities. In the event it becomes necessary to seek alternative suppliers and vendors, we may be unable to obtain satisfactory replacement supplies, services, utilities or programming on economically attractive terms, on a timely basis, or at all, which could increase costs or cause disruptions in our services.

Reliance on utility providers and landlords. We operate a substantial number of data center facilities, which are susceptible to electrical power shortages or outages. Our energy costs can fluctuate significantly or increase for a variety of reasons, including changes in legislation and regulation. Several pending proposals designed to reduce greenhouse emissions could substantially increase our energy costs, which we may not be able to pass on to our customers. Due to the increasing sophistication of equipment and our products, our demand or our customers’ demand for power may exceed the power capacity in older data centers, which may limit our ability to fully utilize these data centers.

We lease most of our data centers. Although the majority of these leases provide us with the opportunity to renew the lease, many of these renewal options provide that rent for the renewal period will be equal to the fair market rental rate at the time of renewal. If the fair market rental rates are significantly higher than our current rental rates, we may be unable to offset these costs by charging more for our services, which could have a negative impact on our financial results. We cannot assure you that our data centers in the future will have access to sufficient space or power on attractive terms, or at all.

Reliance on governmental payments. We receive a material amount of revenue or government subsidies under various government programs, which are further described under the heading “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters." We also provide products or services to various federal, state and local agencies. Governmental agencies frequently reserve the right to terminate their contracts for convenience, or to suspend or debar companies from receiving future subsidies or contracts under certain circumstances. If our governmental contracts are terminated for any reason, or if we are suspended or debarred from governmental programs or contracts, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Reliance on financial institutions. We rely on a number of financial institutions to provide us with short-term liquidity under our credit facility. If one or more of these lenders default on their funding commitments, our access to revolving credit could be adversely affected.

Rising costs, changes in consumer behaviors and other industry changes may adversely impact our video business.

The costs of purchasing video programming have risen significantly in recent years and continue to rise. Moreover, an increasing number of consumers are receiving access to video content through video streaming or other services pursuant to new technologies for a nominal or no fee, which will likely reduce demand for more traditional video products, such as the satellite TV services that we resell and our Prism TV services.

New technologies are also affecting consumer behavior in ways that are changing how content is delivered and viewed. Increased access to various media through wireless devices has the potential to reduce the viewing of our content through traditional distribution outlets. These new technologies have increased the number of entertainment choices available to consumers and intensified the challenges posed by audience fragmentation. Some of these newer technologies also give consumers greater flexibility to watch programming on a time-delayed or on-demand basis. All of these changes, coupled with changing consumer preferences and other related developments, could reduce demand for our video products and services. Reduced demand for our video products and services could, in turn, reduce advertisers' willingness to purchase advertising time from us, which would further reduce the profitability of our video offerings.

If we fail to extend or renegotiate our collective bargaining agreements with our labor unions as they expire from time to time, or if our unionized employees were to engage in a strike or other work stoppage, our business and operating results could be materially harmed.

As of September 30, 2016, approximately 37% of our employees were members of various bargaining units represented by the Communications Workers of America or the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. From time to time, our labor agreements with unions expire. Approximately 11,000, or 26%, of our employees are subject to collective bargaining agreements that are scheduled to expire October 7, 2017. Although we typically are able to negotiate new bargaining agreements, we cannot predict the outcome of our future negotiations of these agreements. We may be unable to reach new agreements, and union employees may engage in strikes, work slowdowns or other labor actions, which could materially disrupt our ability to provide services and result in increased cost to us. In addition, new labor agreements may impose significant new costs on us, which could impair our financial condition or results of operations in the future. To the extent they contain benefit provisions, these agreements may also limit our flexibility to change benefits in response to industry or competitive changes. In particular, post-employment benefits provided under these agreements could cause us to incur costs not faced by many of our competitors, which could ultimately hinder our competitive position.

Portions of our property, plant and equipment are located on property owned by third parties.

Over the past few years, certain utilities, cooperatives and municipalities in certain of the states in which we operate have requested significant rate increases for attaching our plant to their facilities. To the extent that these entities are successful in increasing the amount we pay for these attachments, our future operating costs will increase.

In addition, we rely on rights-of-way, colocation agreements and other authorizations granted by governmental bodies and other third parties to locate our cable, conduit and other network equipment on or under their respective properties. Our operations could be adversely affected if any of these authorizations terminate or lapse, or if the landowner requests price increases.

Our business customers may seek to shift risk to us.

We furnish to and receive from our business customers indemnities relating to damages caused or sustained by us in connection with certain of our operations. Our customers’ changing views on risk allocation could cause us to accept greater risk to win new business or could result in us losing business if we are not prepared to take such risks. To the extent that we accept such additional risk, and seek to insure against it, our insurance premiums could rise.

Our international operations expose us to various regulatory, currency, tax, legal and other risks.

Our international operations are subject to U.S. and other laws and regulations regarding operations in foreign jurisdictions in which we provide services. These numerous and sometimes conflicting laws and regulations include anti-corruption laws, anti-competition laws, trade restrictions, tax laws, immigration laws, privacy laws and accounting requirements. Many of these laws are complex and change frequently. Regulations that require the awarding of contracts to local contractors or the employment of local citizens may adversely affect our flexibility or competitiveness in these jurisdictions. Local laws and regulations, and their interpretation and enforcement, differ significantly among those jurisdictions. There is a risk that these laws or regulations may materially restrict our ability to deliver services in various foreign jurisdictions or could be breached through inadvertence or mistake, fraudulent or negligent behavior of our employees or agents, failure to comply with certain formal documentation or technical requirements, or otherwise. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines and penalties, criminal sanctions against us or our personnel, or prohibitions on the conduct of our business or our ability to operate in one or more countries, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or prospects.

Many foreign laws and regulations relating to communications services are more restrictive than U.S. laws and regulations, particularly those relating to privacy rights and data retention. For example, all 28 member states of the European Union have adopted new European data protection laws that we believe could impact our operations in Europe and could potentially expose us to an increased risk of litigation or significant regulatory fines. Moreover, national regulatory frameworks that are consistent with the policies and requirements of the World Trade Organization have only recently been, or are still being, enacted in many countries. Accordingly, many countries are still in the early stages of providing for and adapting to a liberalized telecommunications market. As a result, in these markets we may encounter more protracted and difficult procedures to obtain licenses necessary to provide the full set of products we seek to offer.

In addition to these international regulatory risks, some of the other risks inherent in conducting business internationally include:


•	tax, licensing, political or other business restrictions or requirements;


•	uncertainty concerning import and export restrictions, including the risk of fines or penalties assessed for violations;


•	longer payment cycles and problems collecting accounts receivable;


•	domestic and foreign regulation of overseas operations, including regulation under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, or FCPA, as well as other anti-corruption laws;


•	economic, social and political instability, with the attendant risks of terrorism, kidnapping, extortion, civic unrest and potential seizure or nationalization of assets;


•	currency and repatriation restrictions and fluctuations in currency exchange rates;


•	challenges in securing and maintaining the necessary physical and telecommunications infrastructure;


•	the inability in certain jurisdictions to enforce contract rights either due to underdeveloped legal systems or government actions that result in a deprivation of contract rights;


•	the inability in certain jurisdictions to adequately protect intellectual property rights;


•	laws, policies or practices that restrict with whom we can contract or otherwise limit the scope of operations that can legally or practicably be conducted within any particular country;


•	potential submission of disputes to the jurisdiction of a foreign court or arbitration panel;


•	reliance on third parties, including those with which we have limited experience;


•	limitations in the availability, amount or terms of insurance coverage;


•	the imposition of unanticipated or increased taxes, increased communications or privacy regulations or other forms of public or governmental regulation that increase our operating expenses; and


•	challenges in staffing and managing foreign operations.

Many of these risks are beyond our control, and we cannot predict the nature or the likelihood of the occurrence or corresponding effect of any such events, each of which could have an adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

We do business and may in the future do additional business in certain countries or regions in which corruption is a serious problem. Moreover, in order to effectively compete in certain foreign jurisdictions, it is frequently necessary or required to establish joint ventures, strategic alliances or marketing arrangements with local operators, partners or agents. In certain instances, these local operators, partners or agents may have interests that are not always aligned with ours. Reliance on local operators, partners or agents could expose us to the risk of being unable to control the scope or quality of our overseas services or products, or being held liable under the FCPA or other anti-corruption laws for actions taken by our strategic or local partners or agents even though these partners or agents may not themselves be subject to the FCPA or other applicable anti-corruption laws. Any determination that we have violated the FCPA or other anti-corruption laws could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, reputation or prospects.

We may be unable to integrate successfully our acquired operations and realize the anticipated benefits of our recent acquisitions.

Historically, much of our growth has been attributable to acquisitions. Although we have completed most of the work to integrate the operations of the acquired companies into our operations, we will continue to devote significant management attention and resources to completing the integration of the business practices, systems and operations of CenturyLink and the acquired companies. You should be aware that our remaining efforts to integrate these companies and businesses could distract our management, disrupt our ongoing business or create inconsistencies in our products, services, standards, controls, procedures and policies, any of which could adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers, vendors and employees or to achieve the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions, or could otherwise adversely affect our business and financial results.

Any additional future acquisitions by us would subject us to additional business, operating and financial risks, the impact of which cannot presently be evaluated, and could adversely impact our capital structure or financial position.

From time to time in the future we may pursue other acquisition or expansion opportunities in an effort to implement our business strategies. These transactions could involve acquisitions of entire businesses or investments in start-up or established companies, and could take several forms, including mergers, joint ventures, investments in new lines of business, or the purchase of equity interests or assets. These types of transactions may present significant risks and uncertainties, including distraction of management from current operations, insufficient revenue acquired to offset liabilities assumed, unexpected expenses, inadequate return of capital, regulatory or compliance issues, potential infringements, potential violations of covenants in our debt instruments and other unidentified issues not discovered in due diligence. To the extent we acquire a business that is financially unstable or is otherwise subject to a high level of risk, we may be affected by currently unascertainable risks of that business. Accordingly, there is no current basis for you to evaluate the possible merits or risks of the particular business or assets that we may acquire. Moreover, we cannot guarantee that any such transaction will ultimately result in the realization of the benefits of the transaction originally anticipated by us or that any such transaction will not have a material adverse impact on our financial condition or results of operations. In particular, we can provide no assurances that we will be able to successfully integrate the technology systems, billing systems, accounting processes, sales force, cost structure, product development and service delivery processes, strategies and culture of the acquired company with ours. In addition, the financing of any future acquisition completed by us could adversely impact our capital structure as any such financing would likely include the issuance of additional securities or the borrowing of additional funds. Except as required by law or applicable securities exchange listing standards, we do not expect to ask our shareholders to vote on any proposed acquisition. Moreover, we generally do not announce our acquisitions until we have entered into a preliminary or definitive agreement.

Unfavorable general economic conditions could negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.

Unfavorable general economic conditions, including unstable economic and credit markets, could negatively affect our business. Worldwide economic growth has been sluggish since 2008, and many experts believe that a confluence of global factors (including uncertainty about the long-term prospects of the European Union, China and certain other economies) may result in a prolonged period of economic stagnation, slow growth or economic uncertainty. While it is difficult to predict the ultimate impact of these general economic conditions, they could adversely affect demand for some of our products and services and could cause customers to shift to lower priced products and services or to delay or forego purchases of our products and services. These conditions impact, in particular, our ability to sell discretionary products or services to business customers that are under pressure to reduce costs or to governmental customers that have suffered substantial budget cuts in recent years. Any one or more of these circumstances could continue to depress our revenues. Also, our customers may encounter financial hardships or may not be able to obtain adequate access to credit, which could negatively impact their ability to make timely payments to us. In addition, as discussed further below, unstable economic and credit markets may preclude us from refinancing maturing debt at terms that are as favorable as those from which we previously benefited, at terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. For these reasons, among others, if current economic conditions persist or decline, our operating results, financial condition, and liquidity could be adversely affected.

For additional information about our business and operations, see Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Risks Relating to Our Pending Acquisition of Level 3

Our ability to complete the Level 3 merger is subject to the receipt of consents and approvals from governmental entities, which may impose conditions that could have an adverse effect on us or could cause us to abandon the merger.

We are unable to complete the merger until we receive approvals from the FCC and various state governmental entities. In deciding whether to grant some of these approvals, the relevant governmental entity will make a determination of whether, among other things, the merger is in the public interest. Regulatory entities may impose certain requirements or obligations as conditions for their approval or in connection with their review.

The merger agreement may require us to accept conditions from these regulators that could adversely impact the combined company without us having the right to refuse to close the merger on the basis of those regulatory conditions. We can provide no assurance that we will obtain the necessary approvals or that any required conditions will not materially adversely affect us following the merger. In addition, we can provide no assurance that these conditions will not result in the abandonment of the merger.

Failure to complete the Level 3 merger could negatively impact us.

If the merger is not completed, our ongoing businesses may be adversely affected and we will be subject to several risks, including the following:


•	being required, under certain circumstances, to pay a termination fee of $472 million;


•	having to pay certain costs relating to the proposed merger, such as legal, accounting, financial advisor, filing, printing and mailing fees; and


•	diverting the focus of management from pursuing other opportunities that could be beneficial to us, in each case, without realizing any of the benefits of having the merger completed.

The pendency of the Level 3 merger could adversely affect our business and operations.

In connection with the pending Level 3 merger, some of our customers or vendors may delay or defer decisions, which could negatively impact our revenues, earnings, cash flows and expenses, regardless of whether the merger is completed. Similarly, our current and prospective employees may experience uncertainty about their future roles with the combined company following the merger, which may materially adversely affect our ability to attract and retain key personnel during the pendency of the merger. In addition, due to operating covenants in the merger agreement, we may be unable, during the pendency of the merger, to pursue strategic transactions, undertake significant capital projects, undertake certain significant financing transactions and otherwise pursue other actions that are not in the ordinary course of business, even if such actions would prove beneficial.

We expect to incur substantial expenses related to the Level 3 merger.

We expect to incur substantial expenses in connection with completing the Level 3 merger and integrating Level 3’s business, operations, networks, systems, technologies, policies and procedures of Level 3 with ours. There are a large number of systems that must be integrated, including billing, management information, purchasing, accounting and finance, sales, payroll and benefits, fixed asset, lease administration and regulatory compliance. While we have assumed that a certain level of transaction and integration expenses would be incurred, there are a number of factors beyond our control that could affect the total amount or the timing of our integration expenses. Many of the expenses that will be incurred, by their nature, are difficult to estimate accurately at the present time. Due to these factors, the transaction and integration expenses associated with the Level 3 merger could, particularly in the near term, exceed the savings that we expect to achieve from the elimination of duplicative expenses and the realization of economies of scale and cost savings related to the integration of the businesses following the completion of the merger. As a result of these expenses, we expect to take charges against our earnings before and after the completion of the merger. The charges taken after the merger are expected to be significant, although the aggregate amount and timing of such charges are uncertain at present.

Following the Level 3 merger, the combined company may be unable to integrate successfully our business and Level 3’s business and realize the anticipated benefits of the merger.

The Level 3 merger involves the combination of two companies which currently operate as independent public companies. The combined company will be required to devote significant management attention and resources to integrating the business practices and operations of CenturyLink and Level 3. We may encounter difficulties in the integration process, including the following:


•	the inability to successfully combine our business and Level 3’s business in a manner that permits the combined company to achieve the cost savings and operating synergies anticipated to result from the merger, which would result in the anticipated benefits of the merger not being realized partly or wholly in the time frame currently anticipated or at all;


•	lost sales and customers as a result of certain customers of either of the two companies deciding not to do business with the combined company;


•	the complexities associated with managing the combined businesses out of several different locations and integrating personnel from the two companies, while at the same time attempting to provide consistent, high quality products and services under a unified culture;


•	the additional complexities of combining two companies with different histories, regulatory restrictions, markets and customer bases;


•	the failure to retain key employees of either of the two companies;


•	potential unknown liabilities and unforeseen increased expenses or regulatory conditions associated with the merger; and


•	performance shortfalls at one or both of the two companies as a result of the diversion of management’s attention caused by completing the merger and integrating the companies’ operations.

For all these reasons, you should be aware that it is possible that the integration process could result in the distraction of the combined company’s management, the disruption of the combined company’s ongoing business or inconsistencies in the combined company’s products, services, standards, controls, procedures and policies, any of which could adversely affect our ability to maintain relationships with customers, vendors and employees or to achieve the anticipated benefits of the merger, or could otherwise adversely affect our business and financial results.

Following the Level 3 merger, we may be unable to retain key employees.

Our success after the merger will depend in part upon our ability to retain key Level 3 and CenturyLink employees. Key employees may depart either before or after the merger because of issues relating to the uncertainty and difficulty of integration or a desire not to remain with us following the merger. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that we will be able to retain key employees to the same extent that we or Level 3 have been able to in the past.

Following the Level 3 merger, we may need to conduct branding or rebranding initiatives that are likely to involve substantial costs and may not be favorably received by customers.

We plan to consult with Level 3 about how and under what brand names to market the various legacy communications services of CenturyLink and Level 3. Prior to the merger, each of us will each continue to market our respective products and services using the “CenturyLink” and “Level 3” brand names and logos. Following the merger, we may discontinue use of either or both of the “CenturyLink” or “Level 3” brand names and logos in some or all of the markets of the combined company. As a result, we expect to incur substantial capital and other costs in rebranding the combined company’s products and services in those markets that previously used a different name, and may incur substantial write-offs associated with the discontinued use of a brand name. The failure of any of these initiatives could adversely affect our ability to attract and retain customers after the merger, resulting in reduced revenues.

We cannot assure you whether, when or in what amounts we will be able to use Level 3’s net operating loss carryforwards following the Level 3 merger.

As of December 31, 2015, Level 3 had $9.8 billion of net operating loss carryforwards, or NOLs, which for federal income tax purposes can be used to offset future taxable income, subject to certain prior limitations under Section 382 of the Code and related regulations. Our ability to use these NOLs following the Level 3 merger will likely be further limited by Section 382 due to an expected ownership change at Level 3 as a result of the merger. However, based on estimates of the Section 382 limitations due to the merger, it is expected that we will be able to use the majority of the NOLs in the five years subsequent to the merger and we expect to use the remaining NOLs within the applicable carryover periods of the NOLs. Additionally, if we are deemed to undergo an ownership change following the merger, an additional limitation under Section 382 could result in additional limitations which could potentially further restrict use of the NOLs. Determining the limitations under Section 382 is technical and highly complex. Although both companies, based on their review to date, currently believe that Level 3 will undergo an ownership change as a result of the merger, neither company has definitively completed the analysis necessary to confirm this. If it is ultimately determined that Level 3 did not undergo an ownership change, utilization of the NOLs will be subject to the separate return limitation rules and will be restricted to application against the taxable income generated by the Level 3 group. Moreover, issuances or sales of our stock following the merger (including certain transactions outside of our control) could result in an ownership change under Section 382. For these and other reasons, we cannot assure you that we will be able to use the NOLs after the merger in the amounts we project.

The pending Level 3 merger raises other risks.

For information on other risks raised by the pending Level 3 merger, please see the risks described below under the heading “- Other Risks”.

Risks Relating to Legal and Regulatory Matters

We operate in a highly regulated industry and are therefore exposed to restrictions on our operations and a variety of claims relating to such regulation.

General. We are subject to significant regulation by, among others, (i) the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”), which regulates interstate communications, (ii) state utility commissions, which regulate intrastate communications, and (iii) various foreign governments and international bodies, which regulate our international operations. Generally, we must obtain and maintain certificates of authority or licenses from these bodies in most territories where we offer regulated services. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in obtaining or retaining all licenses necessary to carry out our business plan, and, even if we are, the prescribed service standards and conditions imposed on us in connection with obtaining or acquiring control of these licenses may impose on us substantial costs and limitations. We are also subject to numerous requirements and interpretations under various international, federal, state and local laws, rules and regulations, which are quite detailed and occasionally in conflict with each other. Accordingly, we cannot ensure that we are always considered to be in compliance with all these requirements at any single point in time. The agencies responsible for the enforcement of these laws, rules and regulations may initiate inquiries or actions based on customer complaints or on their own initiative. Even if we are ultimately found to have complied with applicable regulations, such actions or inquiries could create adverse publicity that negatively impacts our business.

Regulation of the telecommunications industry continues to change, and the regulatory environment varies substantially from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. A substantial portion of our local voice services revenue remains subject to FCC and state utility commission pricing regulation, which periodically exposes us to pricing or earnings disputes and could expose us to unanticipated price declines. Interexchange carriers have filed complaints in various forums requesting reductions in our access rates. In addition, several long distance providers are disputing or refusing to pay amounts owed to us for carrying Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) traffic, or traffic they claim to be VoIP traffic. Similarly, some carriers are refusing to pay access charges for certain calls between mobile and wireline devices routed through an interexchange carrier. There can be no assurance that future regulatory, judicial or legislative activities will not have a material adverse effect on our operations, or that regulators or third parties will not raise material issues with regard to our compliance or noncompliance with applicable regulations.

Risks associated with recent changes in regulation. Historically, our financial performance has been substantially impacted by various aspects of federal regulation, including our receipt in the past of significant universal service payments designed to promote rural telephony. In October 2011, the FCC adopted the Connect America and Intercarrier Compensation Reform order (“the 2011 order”) intended to comprehensively reform the existing regulatory regime to focus support on networks capable of providing new technologies, including VoIP and other broadband services, and re-direct federal universal service funding to foster nationwide voice and broadband infrastructure. The 2011 order provides for a multi-year transition as intercarrier compensation charges are reduced, federal universal service funding is explicitly targeted to broadband deployment, and subscriber line charges paid by end-user customers are gradually increased. These changes have, among other things, fundamentally altered the manner in which federal subsidies are calculated and disbursed to us (including terminating substantially all of the old universal service payments paid to us under predecessor support programs), and have substantially increased the pace of reductions in the amount of switched access revenues we receive from our wholesale customers. We expect our participation in the FCC's CAF Phase 2 support program will significantly impact our financial results and capital expenditures in the coming years. For more information, see "Regulation" in Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Item 2 of Part I of this report.

Although the primary judicial challenges to the 2011 order have been resolved in the FCC's favor, petitions asking that the FCC reconsider certain aspects of the 2011 order remain pending and, as a result, future judicial challenges on related issues remain possible. Such proceedings could still cause parts of the 2011 order to be altered or delayed. In addition, based on the outcome of the FCC proceedings, various state commissions may consider changes to their rates and support programs. Moreover, FCC proceedings relating to implementation of the order remain pending. For these and other reasons, we cannot predict the ultimate impact of these proceedings at this time.

In addition, during the last few years Congress or the FCC has initiated various other changes, including various broadband and Internet regulation initiatives including “network neutrality” regulations (as discussed further below) and actions that will restrict our ability to discontinue or reduce certain services, even if unprofitable. In second quarter of 2016, the FCC concluded its special access tariff investigation and initiated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking ("NPRM") to consider changes in Business Data Services ("BDS") regulation. The results of the special access tariff investigation should not have a material impact on us. However, several changes to the rules and potential rate resets are being evaluated in the Business Data Services NPRM that could have a material adverse impact on our financial results. The FCC is considering redefining which markets and services are subject to BDS regulation and potentially rescinding previously granted pricing flexibility while simultaneously implementing broader contract negotiation flexibility. The FCC is also contemplating phasing in a one-time rate reset as well as implementing an annual productivity factor on specific low-bandwidth data services as early as July 2017. Given the inextricably intertwined nature of the issues under review in the BDS rulemaking and the range of potential outcomes, we will be unable to determine the NPRM’s impact until a final FCC order is issued. The FCC has signaled its desire to issue a BDS order by year end 2016. Any of these recent or pending initiatives could adversely affect our operations or financial results. Moreover, many of the FCC’s regulations adopted in recent years remain subject to judicial review and additional rulemakings, thus increasing the difficulty of determining the ultimate impact of these changes on us and our competitors.

Certain states have recently taken steps that could reduce the amount of their universal service support payments to incumbent local exchange companies. If these trends continue, we would suffer a reduction in our revenues from state support programs.

Risks of higher costs. Regulations continue to create significant operating and capital costs for us. Challenges to our tariffs by regulators or third parties or delays in obtaining certifications and regulatory approvals could cause us to incur substantial legal and administrative expenses, and, if successful, such challenges could adversely affect the rates that we are able to charge our customers.

Our business also may be impacted by legislation and regulation imposing new or greater obligations related to regulations or laws related to regulating broadband services, storing records, bolstering homeland security or cyber security, increasing disaster recovery requirements, minimizing environmental impacts, enhancing privacy, restricting data collection, protecting intellectual property rights of third parties, or addressing other issues that impact our business, including (i) the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, which requires communications carriers to ensure that their equipment, facilities, and services are able to facilitate authorized electronic surveillance, and (ii) the USA Freedom Act, which requires communication companies to store records of communications of their customers. We expect our compliance costs to increase if future laws or regulations continue to increase our obligations.

In addition, increased regulation of our suppliers could increase our costs. For instance, if enhanced regulation of greenhouse gas emissions increases our energy costs, the profitability of our hosting and other operations could be adversely affected.

Increased risks of fines. We have recently paid certain regulatory fines associated with network or service outages, particularly with respect to outages impacting the availability of emergency - 911 services. We believe that regulators are now pursuing higher fines than in the past for these types of incidents, and expect this trend to continue.

Risks of reduced flexibility. As a diversified full service incumbent local exchange carrier in most of our key markets, we have traditionally been subject to significant regulation that does not apply to many of our competitors. This regulation in many instances restricts our ability to change rates, to compete and to respond rapidly to changing industry conditions. As our business becomes increasingly competitive, regulatory disparities between us and our competitors could impede our ability to compete.

Risks posed by other regulations. All of our operations are also subject to a variety of environmental, safety, health and other governmental regulations. We monitor our compliance with federal, state and local regulations governing the management, discharge and disposal of hazardous and environmentally sensitive materials. Although we believe that we are in compliance with these regulations in all material respects, our management, discharge or disposal of hazardous and environmentally sensitive materials might expose us to claims or actions that could potentially have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. For a discussion of regulatory risks associated with our international operations, see “Risk Factors—Risks Affecting Our Business—Our international operations expose us to various regulatory, currency, tax, legal and other risks."

Our participation in the FCC's Connect America Fund ("CAF") Phase 2 support program poses certain risks.

Our participation in the CAF Phase 2 support program subjects us to certain financial risks. If we fail to attain certain specified infrastructure buildout requirements, the FCC could withhold future CAF support payments until these shortcomings are rectified. In addition, if we are not in compliance with FCC measures at the end of the six-year CAF Phase 2 period, we will have 12 months to attain full compliance. If we are not in full compliance after the additional 12 months, we would incur a penalty equal to 1.89 times the average amount of support per location received in the state over the six-year term, plus a potential penalty of 10% of the total CAF Phase 2 support over the six-year term for the state. The amount of these penalties could be material. To comply with the FCC's buildout requirements, we believe we will need to dedicate a substantial portion of our future capital expenditure budget to the construction of new infrastructure. The CAF-related expenditures could reduce the amount of funds we are willing or able to allocate to other initiatives or projects.

“Open Internet” regulation could limit our ability to operate our broadband business profitably and to manage our broadband facilities efficiently.

In order to continue to provide quality broadband service at attractive prices, we believe we need the continued flexibility to respond to changing consumer demands, to manage bandwidth usage efficiently for the benefit of all customers and to invest in our networks. In 2015, the FCC adopted new regulations that regulate broadband services as a public utility under Title II of the Communications Act. Several companies, including us, have initiated judicial actions challenging the new regulations, which remain pending. The ultimate impact of the new regulations will depend on several factors, including the results of pending litigation and the manner in which the new regulations are implemented and enforced. Although it is premature for us to determine the ultimate impact of the new regulations upon our operations, we currently anticipate that the proposed rules could hamper our ability to operate our data networks efficiently, restrict our ability to implement network management practices necessary to ensure quality service, increase the cost of network extensions and upgrades, and otherwise negatively impact our current operations. It is possible that Congress, the FCC or the courts could take further action in the future to modify regulations affecting the provision of broadband Internet services.

We may be liable for the material that content providers distribute over our network.

Although we believe our liability for third party information stored on or transmitted through our networks is limited, the liability of private network operators is impacted both by changing technology and evolving legal principles that remain unsettled in many jurisdictions. As a private network provider, we could be exposed to legal claims relating to third party content stored or transmitted on our networks. Such claims could involve, among others, allegations of defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement, or aiding and abetting restricted activities such as online gambling or pornography. If we decide to implement additional measures to reduce our exposure to these risks, or if we are required to defend ourselves against these kinds of claims, our operations and financial results could be negatively affected.

Any adverse outcome in any of our pending key legal proceedings could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition and operating results, on the trading price of our securities and on our ability to access the capital markets.

There are several material proceedings pending against us, as described in Note 8—Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 1 of Part I of this report. Results of these legal proceedings cannot be predicted with certainty. Irrespective of its merits, litigation may be both lengthy and disruptive to our operations and could cause significant expenditure and diversion of management attention. Any of the proceedings described in Note 8, as well as current litigation not described therein or future litigation, could have a material adverse effect on our financial position or operating results. We can give you no assurances as to the impact of these matters on our operating results or financial condition.

We are subject to franchising requirements that could impede our expansion opportunities or result in potential fines or penalties.

We may be required to obtain from municipal authorities operating franchises to install or expand certain facilities related to our fiber transport operations, our competitive local exchange carrier operations, and our facilities-based video services. Some of these franchises may require us to pay franchise fees. Many of our franchise agreements have compliance obligations and failure to comply may result in fines or penalties. In some cases, certain franchise requirements could delay us in expanding our operations or increase the costs of providing these services.

We are exposed to risks arising out of recent legislation affecting U.S. public companies.

Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and related regulations implemented thereunder, are increasing our legal and financial compliance costs and making some activities more time consuming. Any failure to successfully or timely complete annual assessments of our internal controls required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could subject us to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities. Any such action could adversely affect our financial results or our reputation with investors, lenders or others.

Changes in any of the above-described laws or regulations may limit our ability to plan, and could subject us to further costs or constraints.

From time to time, the laws or regulations governing us or our customers, or the government’s policy of enforcing those laws or regulations, have changed frequently and materially. The variability of these laws could hamper the ability of us and our customers to plan for the future or establish long-term strategies. Moreover, future changes in these laws or regulations could further increase our operating or compliance costs, or further restrict our operational flexibility, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, competitive position, financial condition or prospects.

For a more thorough discussion of the regulatory issues that may affect our business, see "Regulation" in Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015.

Risks Affecting Our Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our high debt levels expose us to a broad range of risks.

We continue to carry significant debt. As of September 30, 2016, the aggregate principal amount of our consolidated long-term debt excluding unamortized discounts, net, and unamortized debt issuance costs, was $20.045 billion. As of the date of this report, $2.201 billion aggregate principal amount of our consolidated debt securities, excluding capital lease and other obligations, is scheduled to mature prior to September 30, 2019. While we currently believe we will have the financial resources to meet or refinance our obligations when they come due, we cannot fully anticipate our future performance or financial condition, the future condition of the credit markets or the economy generally.

Our significant levels of debt can adversely affect us in several other respects, including:

•

limiting our ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, refinancings or other general corporate purposes, particularly if, as discussed further in the risk factor disclosure below, (i) the ratings assigned to our debt securities by nationally recognized credit rating organizations are revised downward or (ii) we seek capital during periods of turbulent or unsettled market conditions;


•	requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to the payment of interest and principal on our debt, thereby reducing the funds available to us for other purposes, including acquisitions, capital expenditures, strategic initiatives, dividends, stock repurchases, marketing and other potential growth initiatives;


•	hindering our ability to capitalize on business opportunities and to plan for or react to changing market, industry, competitive or economic conditions;


•	increasing our future borrowing costs;


•	increasing the risk that third parties will be unwilling or unable to engage in hedging or other financial or commercial arrangements with us;


•	making us more vulnerable to economic or industry downturns, including interest rate increases;


•	placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to less leveraged competitors;


•	increasing the risk that we will need to sell securities or assets, possibly on unfavorable terms, or take other unfavorable actions to meet payment obligations; or


•	increasing the risk that we may not meet the financial covenants contained in our debt agreements or timely make all required debt payments.

The effects of each of these factors could be intensified if we increase our borrowings.

Any failure to make required debt payments could, among other things, adversely affect our ability to conduct operations or raise capital.

Our debt agreements and the debt agreements of our subsidiaries allow us to incur significantly more debt, which could exacerbate the other risks described in this report.

The terms of our debt instruments and the debt instruments of our subsidiaries permit us to incur additional indebtedness. Additional debt may be necessary for many reasons, including those discussed above. Incremental borrowings that impose additional financial risks could exacerbate the other risks described in this report.

We expect to periodically require financing, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain such financing on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all.

We have a significant amount of indebtedness that we intend to refinance over the next several years, principally through the issuance of debt securities of CenturyLink, Inc., Qwest Corporation or both. Our ability to arrange additional financing will depend on, among other factors, our financial position, performance, and credit ratings, as well as prevailing market conditions and other factors beyond our control. Global financial markets continue to be volatile. Prevailing market conditions could be adversely affected by (i) general market conditions, such as disruptions in domestic or overseas sovereign or corporate debt markets, geo-political instabilities, contractions or limited growth in the economy or other similar adverse economic developments in the U.S. or abroad and (ii) specific conditions in the communications industry. Volatility in the global markets could limit our access to the credit markets, leading to higher borrowing costs or, in some cases, the inability to obtain financing on terms that are as favorable as those from which we previously benefited, on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all. Any such failure to obtain additional financing could jeopardize our ability to repay, refinance or reduce our debt obligations.

We may also need to obtain additional financing under a variety of other circumstances, including if:


•	revenues and cash provided by operations decline;


•	economic conditions weaken, competitive pressures increase or regulatory requirements change;


•	we engage in any acquisitions or undertake substantial capital projects or other initiatives that increase our cash requirements;


•	we are required to contribute a material amount of cash to our pension plans;


•	we are required to begin to pay other post-retirement benefits earlier than anticipated;


•	our payments of federal income taxes increase faster or in greater amounts than currently anticipated; or


•	we become subject to significant judgments or settlements, including in connection with one or more of the matters discussed in Note 8—Commitments and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this report.

For all the reasons mentioned above, we can give no assurance that additional financing for any of these purposes will be available on terms that are acceptable to us, or at all.

In addition, our ability to borrow funds in the future will depend in part on the satisfaction of the covenants in our credit facilities and other debt instruments. If we are unable to satisfy the financial covenants contained in those instruments, or are unable to generate cash sufficient to make required debt payments, the parties to whom we are indebted could accelerate the maturity of some or all of our outstanding indebtedness. Certain of our debt instruments have cross-default or cross-acceleration provisions. When present, these provisions could have a wider impact on liquidity than might otherwise arise from a default or acceleration of a single debt instrument.

As noted above, if we are unable to make required debt payments or refinance our debt, we would likely have to consider other options, such as selling assets, issuing additional securities, reducing or terminating our dividend payments, cutting costs or otherwise reducing our cash requirements, or negotiating with our lenders to restructure our applicable debt. Our current and future debt instruments may restrict, or market or business conditions may limit, our ability to do some of these things on favorable terms, or at all.

Any downgrade in the credit ratings of us or our affiliates could limit our ability to obtain future financing, increase our borrowing costs and adversely affect the market price of our existing debt securities or otherwise impair our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Nationally recognized credit rating organizations have issued credit ratings relating to CenturyLink, Inc.'s long-term debt and the long-term debt of several of its subsidiaries. Most of these ratings are below “investment grade”, which results in higher borrowing costs than "investment grade" debt as well as reduced marketability of our debt securities. There can be no assurance that any rating assigned to any of these debt securities will remain in effect for any given period of time or that any such ratings will not be lowered, suspended or withdrawn entirely by a rating agency if, in that rating agency’s judgment, circumstances so warrant.

A downgrade of any of these credit ratings could:


•	adversely affect the market price of some or all of our outstanding debt or equity securities;


•	limit our access to the capital markets or otherwise adversely affect the availability of other new financing on favorable terms, if at all;


•	trigger the application of restrictive covenants in certain of our debt agreements or result in new or more restrictive covenants in agreements governing the terms of any future indebtedness that we may incur;


•	increase our cost of borrowing; and


•	impair our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Under certain circumstances upon a change of control, we will be obligated to offer to repurchase certain of our outstanding debt securities, which could have certain adverse ramifications.

If the credit ratings relating to certain of our long-term debt securities are downgraded in the manner specified thereunder in connection with a “change of control” of CenturyLink, Inc, then we will be required to offer to repurchase such debt securities. If, due to lack of cash, legal or contractual impediments, or otherwise, we fail to offer to repurchase such debt securities, such failure could constitute an event of default under such debt securities, which could in turn constitute a default under other of our agreements relating to our indebtedness outstanding at that time. Moreover, the existence of these repurchase covenants may in certain circumstances render it more difficult or discourage a sale or takeover of us, or the removal of our incumbent directors.

Our business requires us to incur substantial capital and operating expenses, which reduce our available free cash flow.

Our business is capital intensive, and we anticipate that our capital requirements will continue to be significant in the coming years. As noted elsewhere in this report, we committed to spend substantial sums to construct infrastructure in connection with our participation in the FCC's CAF Phase 2 program. In addition, as discussed further under “Risk Factors—Risks Affecting Our Business—Increases in broadband usage may cause network capacity limitations, resulting in service disruptions, reduced capacity or slower transmission speeds for our customers,” increased bandwidth consumption by consumers and businesses has placed increased demands on the transmission capacity of our networks. If we determine that our networks must be expanded to handle these increased demands or as needed to meet CAF Phase 2 infrastructure requirements, we may determine that substantial additional capital expenditures are required, even though there is no assurance that the return on our investment will be satisfactory. In addition, many of our growth and modernization initiatives are capital intensive and changes in technology could require further spending. In addition to investing in expanded networks, new products or new technologies, we must from time to time invest capital to (i) replace some of our aging equipment that supports many of our legacy services that are experiencing revenue declines or (ii) convert older systems to simplify and modernize our network. While we believe that our planned level of capital expenditures will meet both our maintenance and core growth requirements, this may not be the case if demands on our network continue to accelerate or other circumstances underlying our expectations change. Increased spending could, among other things, adversely affect our operating margins, cash flows, results of operations and financial position.

Similarly, we continue to anticipate incurring substantial operating expenses to support our incumbent services and growth initiatives. We may be unable to sufficiently manage or reduce these costs, even if revenues in some of our lines of business are decreasing. If so, our operating margins will be adversely impacted.

As a holding company, we rely on payments from our operating companies to meet our obligations.

As a holding company, substantially all of our income and operating cash flow is dependent upon the earnings of our subsidiaries and their distribution of those earnings to us in the form of dividends, loans or other payments. As a result, we rely upon our subsidiaries to generate the funds necessary to meet our obligations, including the payment of amounts owed under our long-term debt. Our subsidiaries are separate and distinct legal entities and have no obligation to pay any amounts owed by us or, subject to limited exceptions for tax-sharing or cash management purposes, to make any funds available to us to repay our obligations, whether by dividends, loans or other payments. State law applicable to each of our subsidiaries restricts the amount of dividends that they may pay. Restrictions that have been or may be imposed by state regulators (either in connection with obtaining necessary approvals for our acquisitions or in connection with our regulated operations), and restrictions imposed by credit instruments or other agreements applicable to certain of our subsidiaries may limit the amount of funds that our subsidiaries are permitted to transfer to us, including the amount of dividends that may be paid to us. Moreover, our rights to receive assets of any subsidiary upon its liquidation or reorganization will be effectively subordinated to the claims of creditors of that subsidiary, including trade creditors. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources” included elsewhere in this report for further discussion of these matters.

We cannot assure you that we will continue paying dividends at the current rates, or at all.

For the reasons noted below, we cannot assure you that we will continue periodic dividends on our capital stock at the current rates, or at all.

As noted in the immediately preceding risk factor, because we are a holding company with no material assets other than the stock of our subsidiaries, our ability to pay dividends will depend on the earnings and cash flow of our subsidiaries and their ability to furnish funds to us in the form of dividends, loans or other payments.

Any quarterly dividends on our common stock and our outstanding shares of preferred stock will be paid from funds legally available for such purpose when, as and if declared by our Board of Directors. Decisions on whether, when and in which amounts to continue making any future dividend distributions will remain at all times entirely at the discretion of our Board of Directors, which reserves the right to change or terminate our dividend practices at any time and for any reason without prior notice, including without limitation any of the following:

•

our supply of cash or other liquid assets is anticipated to decrease due to our projected payment of higher cash taxes and might decrease further for any of the reasons or potential adverse events or developments described in this report, including (i) changes in competition, regulation, federal and state support, technology, taxes, capital markets, operating costs or litigation costs, or (ii) the impact of any liquidity shortfalls caused by the below-described restrictions on the ability of our subsidiaries to lawfully transfer cash to us;

•

our cash requirements or plans might change for a wide variety of reasons, including changes in our capital allocation plans (including a desire to retain or accumulate cash), capital spending plans, stock purchase plans, acquisition strategies, strategic initiatives, debt payment plans (including a desire to maintain or improve credit ratings on our debt securities), pension funding payments, or financial position;


•	our ability to service and refinance our current and future indebtedness and our ability to borrow or raise additional capital to satisfy our capital needs;


•	the amount of dividends that we may distribute to our shareholders is subject to restrictions under Louisiana law and restrictions imposed by our existing or future credit facilities, debt securities, outstanding preferred stock securities, leases and other agreements, including restricted payment and leverage covenants; and


•	the amount of cash that our subsidiaries may make available to us, whether by dividends, loans or other payments, may be subject to the legal, regulatory and contractual restrictions described in the immediately preceding risk factor.

Based on its evaluation of these and other relevant factors, our Board of Directors may, in its sole discretion, decide not to declare a dividend on our common stock or our outstanding shares of preferred stock for any period for any reason without prior notice, regardless of whether we have funds legally available for such purposes. Holders of our equity securities should be aware that they have no contractual or other legal right to receive dividends.

Similarly, holders of our common stock should be aware that repurchases of our common stock under any repurchase plan then in effect are completely discretionary, and may be suspended or discontinued at any time for any reason regardless of our financial position.

Our current dividend practices could limit our ability to deploy cash for other beneficial purposes.

The current practice of our Board of Directors to pay common share dividends reflects a current intention to distribute to our shareholders a substantial portion of our cash flow. As a result, we may not retain a sufficient amount of cash to apply to other transactions that could be beneficial to our shareholders or debtholders, including stock buybacks, debt prepayments or capital expenditures that strengthen our business. In addition, our ability to pursue any material expansion of our business through acquisitions or increased capital spending may depend more than it otherwise would on our ability to obtain third party financing.

We cannot assure you whether, when or in what amounts we will be able to use our net operating loss carryforwards, or when they will be depleted.

At December 31, 2015, we had $72 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards, or NOL carryforwards, which relate primarily to pre-acquisition losses of Qwest Communications International Inc. ("Qwest"). Under certain circumstances, these NOL carryforwards can be used to offset a portion of our future federal taxable income. The acquisitions of Qwest, SAVVIS, Inc. ("Savvis") and other corporations caused “ownership changes” under federal tax laws relating to the post-acquisition use of NOL carryforwards and other federal tax attributes. As a result, these laws could limit our ability to use the federal NOL carryforwards and certain other federal tax attributes of each of those corporations. Further limitations could apply if we are deemed to undergo an ownership change in the future.

Additionally, at December 31, 2015, we had state NOL carryforwards of approximately $13 billion. A significant portion of the state NOL carryforwards are generated in states where separate company income tax returns are filed and our subsidiaries that generated the losses may not have the ability to generate income in sufficient amounts to realize these losses. In addition, certain of these state NOL carryforwards will be limited by state laws related to ownership changes. As a result, we expect to utilize only a small portion of the state NOL carryforwards, and consequently have determined that as of December 31, 2015, these state NOL carryforwards had a net tax benefit (before valuation allowance) of $444 million.

Increases in costs for pension and healthcare benefits for our active and retired employees may reduce our profitability and increase our funding commitments.

With approximately 43,000 employees, approximately 68,000 pension retirees and approximately 14,000 former employees with vested benefits participating in our benefit plans as of December 31, 2015, the costs of pension and healthcare benefits for our active and retired employees have a significant impact on our profitability. Our costs of maintaining our pension and healthcare plans, and the future funding requirements for these plans, are affected by several factors, most of which are outside our control, including:


•	decreases in investment returns on funds held by our pension and other benefit plan trusts;


•	changes in prevailing interest rates and discount rates or other factors used to calculate the funding status of our pension and other post-retirement plans;


•	increases in healthcare costs generally or claims submitted under our healthcare plans specifically;


•	increasing longevity of our employees and retirees;


•	the continuing implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the related reconciliation act and regulations promulgated thereunder;


•	increases in the number of retirees who elect to receive lump sum benefit payments;


•	increases in insurance premiums we are required to pay to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, an independent agency of the United States government that must cover its own underfunded status by collecting premiums from an ever shrinking population of pension plans that are qualified under the U.S. tax code;


•	changes in plan benefits; and


•	changes in funding laws or regulations.

Increased costs under these plans could reduce our profitability and increase our funding commitments to our pension plans. Any future material cash contributions could have a negative impact on our liquidity by reducing our cash flows available for other purposes. Similarly, depletion of assets placed in trust by us to fund these benefits, such as those discussed elsewhere herein, will similarly reduce our liquidity by reducing our cash flows available for other purposes.

As of December 31, 2015, our pension plans and our other post-retirement benefit plans were substantially underfunded from an accounting standpoint. See Note 7—Employee Benefits to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. For more information on our obligations under our defined benefit pension plans and other post-retirement benefit plans, please see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Pension and Post-retirement Benefit Obligations” included in Item 2 of Part I of this report.

For additional information concerning our liquidity and capital resources, see Item 2 of Part I of this report. For a discussion of certain currency and liquidity risks associated with our international operations, see "Risk Factors—Risks Affecting Our Business—Our international operations expose us to various regulatory, currency, tax, legal and other risks."

Other Risks

We face risks from natural disasters, which can disrupt our operations and cause us to incur substantial additional capital and operating costs.

A substantial number of our facilities are located in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and other coastal states, which subjects them to the risks associated with severe tropical storms, hurricanes and tornadoes, including downed telephone lines, flooded facilities, power outages, fuel shortages, damaged or destroyed property and equipment, and work interruptions. Although we maintain property and casualty insurance on our property (excluding our above ground outside plant) and may, under certain circumstances, be able to seek recovery of some additional costs through increased rates, only a portion of our additional costs directly related to such natural disasters have historically been recoverable. We cannot predict whether we will continue to be able to obtain insurance for catastrophic hazard-related damages or, if obtainable and carried, whether this insurance will be adequate to cover our losses. In addition, we expect any insurance of this nature to be subject to substantial deductibles or retentions and the premiums to be based on our loss experience. Moreover, our insurance coverage is limited for certain specified types of exposure to losses. For all these reasons, any future hazard-related costs and work interruptions could adversely affect our operations and our financial condition.

If conditions or assumptions differ from the judgments, assumptions or estimates used in our critical accounting policies, our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures could be materially affected.

The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make judgments, assumptions and estimates that affect the amounts reported in our consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Our critical accounting policies, which are described in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates” in Item 7 of Part II of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015, describe those significant accounting policies and methods used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements that are considered “critical” because they require judgments, assumptions and estimates that materially impact our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures. As a result, if future events or assumptions differ significantly from the judgments, assumptions and estimates in our critical accounting policies, these events or assumptions could have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures.

Lapses in disclosure controls and procedures or internal control over financial reporting could materially and adversely affect our operations, profitability or reputation.

There can be no assurance that our disclosure controls and procedures will be effective in the future or that we will not experience a material weakness or significant deficiency in internal control over financial reporting. Any such lapses or deficiencies may materially and adversely affect our business, operating results or financial condition, restrict our ability to access the capital markets, require us to expend significant resources to correct the lapses or deficiencies, expose us to regulatory or legal proceedings, including litigation brought by private individuals, subject us to fines, penalties or judgments, harm our reputation, or otherwise cause a decline in investor confidence and our stock price.

If our goodwill or other intangible assets become impaired, we may be required to record a significant charge to earnings and reduce our stockholders' equity.

As of September 30, 2016, approximately 55% of our total consolidated assets reflected on the consolidated balance sheet included in this report consisted of goodwill, customer relationships and other intangible assets. Under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, most of these intangible assets must be tested for impairment on an annual basis or more frequently whenever events or circumstances indicate that their carrying value may not be recoverable. From time to time (most recently for the third quarter of 2013), we have recorded large non-cash charges to earnings in connection with required reductions of the value of our intangible assets. If our intangible assets are determined to be impaired in the future, we may be required to record additional significant, non-cash charges to earnings during the period in which the impairment is determined to have occurred.

Tax audits or changes in tax laws could adversely affect us.

Like all large businesses, we are subject to frequent and regular audits by the Internal Revenue Service as well as state and local tax authorities. These audits could subject us to tax liabilities if adverse positions are taken by these tax authorities.

We believe that we have adequately provided for tax contingencies. However, our tax audits and examinations may result in tax liabilities that differ materially from those that we have recognized in our consolidated financial statements. Because the ultimate outcomes of all of these matters are uncertain, we can give no assurance as to whether an adverse result from one or more of them will have a material effect on our financial results.

Legislators and regulators at all levels of government may from time to time change existing tax laws or regulations or enact new laws or regulations that could negatively impact our operating results or financial condition.

Our agreements and organizational documents and applicable law could limit another party’s ability to acquire us.

A number of provisions in our agreements and organizational documents and various provisions of applicable law may delay, defer or prevent a future takeover of CenturyLink unless the takeover is approved by our Board of Directors. For additional information, please see our Registration Statement on Form 8-A/A filed with the SEC on March 2, 2015. This could deprive our shareholders of any related takeover premium.

ITEM 2. UNREGISTERED SALES OF EQUITY SECURITIES AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table contains information about shares of our previously-issued common stock that we withheld from employees upon vesting of their stock-based awards during the third quarter of 2016 to satisfy the related minimum tax withholding obligations:



	Total Number of Shares Withheld for Taxes	Average Price Paid Per Share
Period
July 2016	4,928	$	28.48
August 2016	4,847	30.70
September 2016	1,472	28.22
Total	11,247

ITEM 6. EXHIBITS

Exhibits identified in parentheses below are on file with the SEC and are incorporated herein by reference. All other exhibits are provided as part of this electronic submission.



Exhibit Number	Description
2.1	Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of October 31, 2016, by and among CenturyLink, Inc., Level 3 Communications, Inc., Wildcat Merger Sub 1 LLC and WWG Merger Sub LLC (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 2.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 3, 2016).
3.1	Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation of CenturyLink, Inc., as amended through May 23, 2012 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 30, 2012).
3.2	Bylaws of CenturyLink, Inc., as amended and restated through May 28, 2014 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 2, 2014).
4.1	Form of common stock certificate (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.10 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2012 (Registration No. 333-179888)).
4.2	Instruments relating to CenturyLink, Inc.'s Revolving Credit Facility.
	a.	Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of April 6, 2012, by and among CenturyLink, Inc. and the lenders and agents named therein (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 11, 2012, as amended by the First Amendment to Amended and Restated Credit Agreement, dated as of December 3, 2014, among CenturyLink, Inc. and the lenders and agents named therein (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 of CenturyLink's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 5, 2014).
	b.	Guarantee Agreement, dated as of April 6, 2012, by and among the original guarantors named therein (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 11, 2012), as assumed by two additional guarantors under an assumption agreement, dated as of May 23, 2013 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2013 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 8, 2013), as amended by the Amendment to Guarantee Agreement and Reaffirmation Agreement, dated as of December 3, 2014, among CenturyLink, Inc. and the affiliated guarantors named therein (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.4 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 5, 2014).
4.3	Instruments relating to CenturyLink, Inc.'s Term Loan.
	a.	Credit Agreement, dated as of April 18, 2012, by and among CenturyLink, Inc., the several banks and other financial institutions or entities from time to time parties thereto, and CoBank, ACB, as administrative agent (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 20, 2012), as amended by the amendment dated as of March 13, 2015.
	b.	Guarantee Agreement, dated as of April 18, 2012, by and among the original guarantors named therein (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 20, 2012), as assumed by two additional guarantors under an assumption agreement, dated as of May 23, 2013 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2013 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 8, 2013), as amended by the amendment dated as of March 13, 2015 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3(b) of CenturyLink's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2015 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 6, 2015).
4.4	Instruments relating to CenturyLink, Inc.'s public senior debt. ⁽¹⁾
	a.	Indenture, dated as of March 31, 1994, by and between Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. (currently named CenturyLink, Inc.) and Regions Bank (successor-in-interest to First American Bank & Trust of Louisiana), as Trustee.
		(i).	Form of 7.2% Senior Notes, Series D, due 2025 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.27 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1995 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 18, 1996).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(ii).	Form of 6.875% Debentures, Series G, due 2028, (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.9 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 1998).
	b.	Fourth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of March 26, 2007, by and between CenturyTel, Inc. (currently named CenturyLink, Inc.) and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 6.0% Senior Notes, Series N, due 2017 and 5.5% Senior Notes, Series O, due 2013 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 29, 2007).
		(i).	Form of 6.0% Senior Notes, Series N, due 2017 and 5.5% Senior Notes, Series O, due 2013 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 29, 2007).
	c.	Fifth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of September 21, 2009, by and between CenturyTel, Inc. (currently named CenturyLink, Inc.) and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 7.60% Senior Notes, Series P, due 2039 and 6.15% Senior Notes, Series Q, due 2019 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 22, 2009).
		(i).	Form of 7.60% Senior Notes, Series P, due 2039 and 6.15% Senior Notes, Series Q, due 2019 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 22, 2009).
	d.	Sixth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of June 16, 2011, by and between CenturyLink, Inc. and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 5.15% Senior Notes, Series R, due 2017 and 6.45% Senior Notes, Series S, due 2021 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 16, 2011).
		(i).	Form of 5.15% Senior Notes, Series R, due 2017 and 6.45% Senior Notes, Series S, due 2021 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 16, 2011).
	e.	Seventh Supplemental Indenture, dated as of March 12, 2012, by and between CenturyLink, Inc. and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 5.80% Senior Notes, Series T, due 2022 and 7.65% Senior Notes, Series U, due 2042 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2012).
		(i).	Form of 5.80% Senior Notes, Series T, due 2022 and 7.65% Senior Notes, Series U, due 2042 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2012).
	f.	Eighth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of March 21, 2013, by and between CenturyLink, Inc. and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 5.625% Senior Notes, Series V, due 2020 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 21, 2013).
		(i).	Form of 5.625% Senior Notes, Series V, due 2020 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 21, 2013).
	g.	Ninth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of November 27, 2013, by and between CenturyLink, Inc. and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 6.75% Senior Notes, Series W, due 2023 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 27, 2013).
		(i).	Form of 6.75% Senior Notes, Series W, due 2023 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 27, 2013).
	h.	Tenth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of March 19, 2015, by and between CenturyLink, Inc. and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 5.625% Senior Notes, Series X, due 2025 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 19, 2015).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(i).	Form of 5.625% Senior Notes, Series X, due 2025 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 19, 2015).
	i.	Eleventh Supplemental Indenture, dated as of April 6, 2016, by and between CenturyLink, Inc. and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 7.5% Senior Notes, Series Y, due 2024 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 6, 2016).
		(i).	Form of 7.5% Senior Notes, Series Y, due 2024 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 6, 2016).
4.5	Instruments relating to indebtedness of Qwest Communications International, Inc. and its subsidiaries.⁽¹⁾
	a.	Indenture, dated as of April 15, 1990, by and between The Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company (currently named Qwest Corporation) and The First National Bank of Chicago (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 of Qwest Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 13, 2004).
		(i).	First Supplemental Indenture, dated as of April 16, 1991, by and between U S WEST Communications, Inc. (currently named Qwest Corporation) and The First National Bank of Chicago (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 of Qwest Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 13, 2004).
	b.	Indenture, dated as of April 15, 1990, by and between Northwestern Bell Telephone Company (predecessor to Qwest Corporation) and The First National Bank of Chicago (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.5(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2012 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 10, 2012).
		(i).	First Supplemental Indenture, dated as of April 16, 1991, by and between U S WEST Communications, Inc. (currently named Qwest Corporation) and The First National Bank of Chicago (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 of Qwest Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 13, 2004).
	c.	Indenture, dated as of June 29, 1998, by and among U S WEST Capital Funding, Inc. (currently named Qwest Capital Funding, Inc.), U S WEST, Inc. (predecessor to Qwest Communications International Inc.) and The First National Bank of Chicago, as trustee (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4(a) of U S WEST, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-14087) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 18, 1998).
		(i).	First Supplemental Indenture, dated as of June 30, 2000, by and among U S WEST Capital Funding, Inc. (currently named Qwest Capital Funding, Inc.), U S WEST, Inc. (predecessor to Qwest Communications International Inc.) and Bank One Trust Company, N.A., as trustee (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.10 of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2000 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 11, 2000).
	d.	Indenture, dated as of October 15, 1999, by and between US West Communications, Inc. (currently named Qwest Corporation) and Bank One Trust Company, N.A., as trustee (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4(b) of Qwest Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999 (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 3, 2000).
		(i).	Fifth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of May 16, 2007, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 18, 2007).
		(ii).	Eighth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of September 21, 2011, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.9 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 20, 2011).
		(iii).	Ninth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of October 4, 2011, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of Qwest Corporation's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 4, 2011).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(iv).	Tenth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of April 2, 2012, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.11 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 30, 2012).
		(v).	Eleventh Supplemental Indenture, dated as of June 25, 2012, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.12 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 22, 2012).
		(vi).	Twelfth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of May 23, 2013, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.13 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 22, 2013).
		(vii).	Thirteenth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of September 29, 2014, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.14 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 26, 2014).
		(viii).	Fourteenth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of September 21, 2015, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.15 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 21, 2015).
		(ix).	Fifteenth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of January 29, 2016, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.16 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 29, 2016).
		(x).	Sixteenth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of August 22, 2016, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.17 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with Securities and Exchange Commission on August 22, 2016).
	e.	Credit Agreement, dated as of February 20, 2015, by and among Qwest Corporation, the several lenders from time to time parties thereto, and CoBank, ACB, as administrative agent.
4.6	Instruments relating to indebtedness of Embarq Corporation.⁽¹⁾
	a.	Indenture, dated as of May 17, 2006, by and between Embarq Corporation and J.P. Morgan Trust Company, National Association, a national banking association, as trustee (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of Embarq Corporation's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-32732) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 18, 2006).
	b.	7.995% Global Note due 2036 of Embarq Corporation (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.4 to Embarq Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 (File No. 001-32372) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 9, 2007).
4.7	Intercompany debt instruments.
	a.	Revolving Promissory Note, dated as of April 2, 2012 pursuant to which Embarq Corporation may borrow from an affiliate of CenturyLink, Inc. up to $2.5 billion on a revolving basis (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.7(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2012 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 8, 2012).
	b.	Revolving Promissory Note, dated as of April 18, 2012, pursuant to which Qwest Corporation may borrow from an affiliate of CenturyLink, Inc. up to $1.0 billion on a revolving basis (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.7(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2012 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 8, 2012).
	c.	Revolving Promissory Note, dated as of September 27, 2012, pursuant to which Qwest Communications International, Inc. may borrow from an affiliate of CenturyLink, Inc. up to $3.0 billion on a revolving basis (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.7(c) of CenturyLink Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 (File No. 001-07844) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2013).
10.1	Qualified Employee Benefit Plans of CenturyLink, Inc. (excluding several narrow-based qualified plans that cover union employees or other limited groups of employees).



Exhibit Number	Description
	a.	CenturyLink Dollars & Sense 401(k) Plan and Trust, as amended and restated through December 31, 2006 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2007), as amended by the First Amendment and the Second Amendment thereto, each dated as of December 31, 2007 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 29, 2008), as amended by the Third Amendment thereto dated as of November 20, 2008 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2009), as amended by the Fourth Amendment thereto dated as of June 30, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009), as amended by the Fifth Amendment thereto dated as of September 15, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010), as amended by the Sixth Amendment thereto, dated as of December 30, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010), as amended by the Seventh Amendment thereto, effective May 20, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2010) and as amended by the Eighth Amendment thereto, effective January 1, 2011 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011).
	b.	CenturyLink Union 401(k) Plan and Trust, as amended and restated through December 31, 2006 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2007), as amended by the First Amendment thereto dated as of May 29, 2007 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2008), as amended by the Second Amendment thereto dated as of December 31, 2007 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 29, 2008), as amended by the Third Amendment thereto dated as of November 20, 2008 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2009), as amended by the Fourth Amendment thereto dated as of June 30, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009), as amended by the Fifth Amendment thereto dated as of September 15, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010), as amended by the Sixth Amendment thereto, dated as of December 30, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010), as amended by the Seventh Amendment thereto, effective May 20, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2010) and as amended by the Eighth Amendment thereto, effective January 1, 2011 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011).



Exhibit Number	Description
	c.	CenturyLink Retirement Plan, as amended and restated through December 31, 2006 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2007), as amended by Amendment No. 1 thereto dated as of April 2, 2007 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2008), as amended by Amendment No. 2 thereto dated as of December 31, 2007 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 29, 2008), as amended by Amendment No. 3 thereto dated as of October 24, 2008 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2009), as amended by Amendment No. 4 dated as of June 30, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009), as amended by Amendment No. 5 thereto dated as of September 15, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010), as amended by Amendment No. 6 thereto, dated as of December 30, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010), as amended by Amendment No. 7 thereto, effective at various dates during 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2010) and as amended by Amendment No. 8 thereto, effective January 1, 2011 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011).
10.2	Stock-based Incentive Plans and Agreements of CenturyLink
	a.	Amended and Restated 1983 Restricted Stock Plan, as amended and restated through February 23, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010).
	b.	Amended and Restated 2000 Incentive Compensation Plan, as amended through May 23, 2000 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2000 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 11, 2000) and amendment thereto dated as of May 29, 2003 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2003 (File No. 001-7784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 14, 2003).
		(i).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the 2000 Incentive Compensation Plan and dated as of May 21, 2001, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(e) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 15, 2002).
		(ii).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the 2000 Incentive Compensation Plan and dated as of February 25, 2002, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(d) (ii) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, 2003).
	c.	Amended and Restated 2002 Directors Stock Option Plan, dated as of February 25, 2004 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(e) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2004) and amendment thereto dated as of October 24, 2008 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(d) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2009).
		(i).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. in connection with options granted to the outside directors as of May 10, 2002 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2002 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 14, 2002).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(ii).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. in connection with options granted to the outside directors as of May 9, 2003 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(e) (ii) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2004).
		(iii).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. in connection with options granted to the outside directors as of May 7, 2004 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(d) (iii) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2006).
	d.	Amended and Restated 2002 Management Incentive Compensation Plan, dated as of February 25, 2004 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(f) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2004) and amendment thereto dated as of October 24, 2008 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(e) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2009).
		(i).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and certain of its officers and key employees at various dates during 2002 following May 9, 2002 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2002 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 14, 2002).
		(ii).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to foregoing plan and dated as of February 24, 2003, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(f) (ii) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, 2003).
		(iii).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to foregoing plan and dated as of February 25, 2004, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(f) (iii) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2004).
		(iv).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 24, 2003, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2003 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 14, 2003).
		(v).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 25, 2004, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(f) (v) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2004 (File No. 000-50260) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2004).
		(vi).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to foregoing plan and dated as of February 17, 2005, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(e) (v) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004 (File No. 000-50260) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2005).
		(vii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 17, 2005, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(e) (vi) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2004 (File No. 000-50260) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2005).
	e.	Amended and Restated 2005 Directors Stock Plan, as amended and restated through February 23, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(f) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010).
		(i).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its outside directors as of May 13, 2005 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 000-50260) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 13, 2005).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(ii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its outside directors as of May 12, 2006 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2006 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 3, 2006).
		(iii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its outside directors as of May 11, 2007 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(f) (iii) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2009).
		(iv).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its outside directors as of May 9, 2008 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 (f) (iv) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2009).
		(v).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of May 8, 2009, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its outside directors on such date who remained on the Board following July 1, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(b) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009).
		(vi).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of May 8, 2009, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its outside directors who retired on July 1, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009).
		(vii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of July 2, 2009, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its outside directors named to the Board on July 1, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(d) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009).
		(viii).	Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of July 2, 2009, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and William A. Owens in payment of Mr. Owens' 2009 supplemental chairman's fees (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(e) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009).
		(ix).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of May 21, 2010, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and seven of its outside directors on such date (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 6, 2010).
	f.	Amended and Restated 2005 Management Incentive Compensation Plan, as amended and restated through February 23, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(g) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010).
		(i).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and certain officers and key employees at various dates since May 12, 2005 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2005 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 9, 2005).
		(ii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and certain officers and key employees at various dates since May 12, 2005 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2005 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 9, 2005).
		(iii).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 21, 2006, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(g) (iii) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2006).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(iv).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 21, 2006, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(g) (iv) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2006).
		(v).	Form of Stock Option Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 26, 2007, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2007 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 9, 2007).
		(vi).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 26, 2007, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2007 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 9, 2007).
		(vii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 21, 2008, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and its executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2008).
		(viii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of February 26, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(g) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 1, 2009).
		(ix).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of March 8, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2010).
	g.	Amended and Restated CenturyLink Legacy Embarq 2008 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended and restated through February 23, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(h) of CenturyLink, Inc.’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2010).
		(i).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of May 21, 2010, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and four of its outside directors as of such date (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 6, 2010).
		(ii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, pursuant to the foregoing plan and dated as of May 21, 2010, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and William A. Owens in payment of Mr. Owens' 2010 supplemental chairman's fees (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 6, 2010).
		(iii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement, dated as of September 7, 2010, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and Dennis G. Huber (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.16 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2010).
	h.	Form of Retention Award Agreement, pursuant to the equity incentive plans of CenturyLink or Embarq and dated as of August 23, 2010, entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and certain officers and key employees as of such date (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2010).
	i.	CenturyLink 2011 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended through May 18, 2016 (incorporated by reference to Appendix A of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Proxy Statement for its 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 5, 2016).
		(i).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement for executive officers used in 2011 and 2012 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(a) (i) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2011 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 9, 2011).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(ii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement for non-management directors used since 2011 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2(a) (ii) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2011 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 9, 2011).
		(iii).	Form of Restricted Stock Agreement for executive officers used since May 2013.
10.3	Key Employee Incentive Compensation Plan, dated as of January 1, 1984, as amended and restated as of November 16, 1995 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(f) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1995 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 18, 1996) and amendment thereto dated as of November 21, 1996 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1(f) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1996 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 17, 1997), amendment thereto dated as of February 25, 1997 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 1997 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 8, 1997), amendment thereto dated as of April 25, 2001 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2001 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 15, 2001), amendment thereto dated as of April 17, 2000 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3(a) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 15, 2002) and amendment thereto dated as of February 27, 2007 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2007 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 8, 2007).
10.4	Supplemental Dollars & Sense Plan, 2008 Restatement, effective January 1, 2008, (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 29, 2009) and amendment thereto dated as of October 24, 2008 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 27, 2009) and amendment thereto dated as of December 27, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011).
10.5	Supplemental Defined Benefit Pension Plan, effective as of January 1, 2012 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.5 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 28, 2012).
10.6	Amended and Restated Salary Continuation (Disability) Plan for Officers, dated as of November 26, 1991 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.16 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1991).
10.7	2015 Executive Officer Short-Term Incentive Program (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A of CenturyLink's 2015 Proxy Statement on Form 14A (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 8, 2015).
10.8	Form of Indemnification Agreement entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its directors as of July 1, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.3 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 1, 2009).
10.9	Form of Indemnification Agreement entered into between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its officers as of July 1, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.5 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009).
10.10	Change of Control Agreement, effective January 1, 2011, by and between Glen F. Post, III and CenturyLink, Inc. (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.11 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011).
10.11	Form of Change of Control Agreement, effective January 1, 2011 between CenturyLink, Inc. and each of its other executive officers (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.12 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011).
10.12	CenturyLink Executive Severance Plan (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.13 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 24, 2015.)



Exhibit Number	Description
10.13	Amended and Restated CenturyLink, Inc. Bonus Life Insurance Plan for Executive Officers, dated as of April 3, 2008 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2008 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 7, 2008) and First Amendment thereto (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.13 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2010).
10.14	Certain Material Agreements and Plans of Embarq Corporation.
	a.	Embarq Corporation 2006 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended and restated (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.1 of the Registration Statement on Form S-8 filed by CenturyLink, Inc. (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 1, 2009).
	b.	Form of 2007 Award Agreement for executive officers of Embarq Corporation (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of Embarq Corporation's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-32372) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 27, 2007).
	c.	Form of 2008 Restricted Stock Unit Award Agreement (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of Embarq Corporation's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-32372) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 4, 2008).
	d.	Form of 2009 Restricted Stock Unit Award Agreement (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of Embarq Corporation's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-32732) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 5, 2009).
	e.	Form of Stock Option Award Agreement (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 of Embarq Corporation's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-32372) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 4, 2008).
	f.	Amendment to Outstanding RSUs granted in 2007 and 2008 under the Embarq Corporation 2006 Equity Incentive Plan (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.16 of Embarq Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-32372) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 13, 2009).
	g.	Form of 2006 Award Agreement, entered into between Embarq Corporation and Richard A. Gephardt (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 of Embarq Corporation's Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-32372) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 1, 2006), as amended by the amendment thereto dated as of June 26, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 (m) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2009 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 7, 2009).
	h.	Amended and Restated Executive Severance Plan, including Form of Participation Agreement entered into between Embarq Corporation and William E. Cheek (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 of Embarq Corporation's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2008 (File No. 001-32372) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 30, 2008).
	i.	Embarq Supplemental Executive Retirement Plan, as amended and restated as of January 1, 2009 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.27 of Embarq Corporation's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 (File No. 001-32372) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 13, 2009), amendment thereto dated as of December 27, 2010 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.14(o) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 1, 2011) and second amendment thereto as of dated as of November 15, 2011 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.14(k) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 28, 2012).
10.15	Certain Material Agreements and Plans of Qwest Communications International Inc. or Savvis, Inc.
	a.	Equity Incentive Plan, as amended and restated (incorporated by reference to Annex A of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s Proxy Statement for the 2007 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 29, 2007).



Exhibit Number	Description
	b.	Forms of restricted stock, performance share and option agreements used under Equity Incentive Plan, as amended and restated (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 24, 2005; Exhibit 10.2 of Qwest Communication International Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 16, 2006; Exhibit 10.2 of Qwest Communication International Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2006 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 3, 2006; Exhibit 10.2 of Qwest Communication International Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 8, 2007; Exhibit 10.3 of Qwest Communication International Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on September 15, 2008; Exhibit 10.2 of Qwest Communication International Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2009 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30, 2009; and Exhibit 10.2 of Qwest Communication International Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 15, 2011).
	c.	Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors, as amended and restated, Amendment to Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on December 16, 2005 and Exhibit 10.8 to Qwest Communication International Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2008 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 29, 2008) and Amendment No. 2011-1 to Deferred Compensation Plan for Nonemployee Directors (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.15(c) of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Annual Report for the year ended December 31, 2011 (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 28, 2012).
	d.	Qwest Nonqualified Pension Plan (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.9 of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 16, 2010).
	e.	SAVVIS, Inc. Amended and Restated 2003 Incentive Compensation Plan (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 of SAVVIS, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2006 (File No. 000-29375) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 5, 2006), as amended by Amendment No. 1 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 of SAVVIS, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 (File No. 000-29375) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 26, 2007); Amendment No. 2 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 of SAVVIS, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 000-29375) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 15, 2007); Amendment No. 3 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 of SAVVIS, Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2007 (File No. 000-29375) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 31, 2007; Amendment No. 4 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of SAVVIS, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (file No. 000-29375) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 22, 2009); and Amendment No. 5 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 of SAVVIS, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 000-29375) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 22, 2009).
12*	Ratio of Earnings to Fixed Charges
31.1*	Certification of the Chief Executive Officer of CenturyLink, Inc. pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
31.2*	Certification of the Chief Financial Officer of CenturyLink, Inc. pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
32*	Certification of the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of CenturyLink, Inc. pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
101*	Financial statements from the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q of CenturyLink, Inc. for the period ended September 30, 2016, formatted in XBRL: (i) the Consolidated Statements of Operations, (ii) the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income, (iii) the Consolidated Balance Sheets, (iv) the Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows, (v) the Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity and (vi) the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.


*	Exhibit filed herewith.

_______________________________________________________________________________

⁽¹⁾

Certain of the items in Sections 4.4, 4.5 and 4.6 (i) omit supplemental indentures or other instruments governing debt that has been retired, or (ii) refer to trustees who may have been replaced, acquired or affected by similar changes. In accordance with Item 601(b) (4) (iii) (A) of Regulation S-K, copies of certain instruments defining the rights of holders of certain of our long-term debt are not filed herewith. Pursuant to this regulation, we hereby agree to furnish a copy of any such instrument to the SEC upon request.

SIGNATURE

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized on November 4, 2016.



	CENTURYLINK, INC.
	By:	/s/ DAVID D. COLE
	By:	David D. Cole Executive Vice President, Controller and Operations Support (Chief Accounting Officer)