Editing Regional Bell Operating Company (section)

=== Lumen Technologies, Inc. ===
[[Lumen Technologies]], Inc. was originally Century Telephone (CenturyTel), and took the Centurylink name in 2009 when it acquired [[Embarq]], the former local operations of [[Sprint Nextel]], which also included the former operations of [[Centel]]. The company, as CenturyTel, had acquired some [[Wisconsin Bell]] lines from [[Ameritech]] in 1998.

[[Qwest]], a [[Denver]]-based [[fiber optics]] long-distance company, had taken over [[US West]] in 2000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.qwest.com |title=Qwest Homepage |access-date=2008-01-20 |publisher=Qwest Communications International Inc. |archive-date=2008-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122234835/http://www.qwest.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> CenturyLink announced in April 2010 its intent to buy Qwest for US$10.6 billion.<ref>{{cite news
| author1 = Dennis K. Bermain
| author2 = Joann S. Lublin
| author3 = Spencer E. Ante
| title = CenturyTel Buys Qwest in Land-Line Gamble
| newspaper = Wall Street Journal
| date = 2010-04-22
| url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703876404575200042559183812?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews
| access-date = 2010-04-22
| archive-date = 2020-08-07
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200807012006/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748703876404575200042559183812?mod=WSJ_hps_LEFTWhatsNews
| url-status = live
}}</ref> The transaction was completed in April 2011. In August 2011, the Qwest branding was retired and replaced by that of CenturyLink. CenturyLink rebranded to Lumen Technologies in September 2020.