NEW YORK — Century- Link posted a slight decline in its fourth-quarter profit as the rural telecommunications provider continues to lose traditional phone customers.
CenturyLink, like many of its fellow telecoms, has been looking to offset its declining land-line revenue with Internet services, which continue to see demand.
To further guard against declines in its legacy phone business, it agreed to acquire Qwest Communications International, which swung to a fourth-quarter loss due to the same trends.
The companies are in the final stages of the deal, which has cleared several state and federal regulatory hurdles but still needs approval from the Federal Communications Commission and four state agencies. The deal is expected to close in April.
CenturyLink reported a fourth-quarter profit of $225.2 million, or 74 cents a share, down from $230.2 million, or 77 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding acquisition costs and other impacts, earnings fell to 76 cents a share, from 95 cents, as revenue dropped 6.4 percent to $1.72 billion.
