Century Tel Buys Qwest & its 17 Data Centers

CenturyTel, a provider of local phone and Internet services, said Thursday that it would acquire Qwest Communications in a $10.6 billion stock swap. The deal is exected to help Century Tel boost its land-line voice business. The analysis on the deal has understandably focused primarily on its implications for the telecom industry.

But what about Qwest's 17 CyberCenter hosting facilities? It looks like there are no mmediate changes for the data center operations. "We will continue to deliver strategic and customized product solutions to business, wholesale, and government customers throughout the nation with Qwest’s significant national fiber-optic network and data centers and CenturyLink’s national core network," the companies said in a merger FAQ.

Qwest operates 17 CyberCenters in 12 locations around the U.S., including Albuquerque; Denver; Burbank, Sacramento and Sunnyvale, Calif.; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Minneapolis; Newark, N.J.; Seattle and three sites in Sterling, Va.