CENTURYLINK, INC (Form: 10-Q, Received: 05/06/2015 17:33:54)

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 March 31, 2015



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 April 30, 2015 , there were 563,749,179 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	21
Item 3.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	38
Item 4.	Controls and Procedures	38
Part II.	Other Information:
Item 1.	Legal Proceedings	39
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	39
Item 2.	Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds	57
Item 6.	Exhibits	58
Signature		71

* 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 March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions except per share amounts and shares in thousands)
OPERATING REVENUES	$	4,451		4,538
OPERATING EXPENSES
Cost of services and products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)	1,911			1,935
Selling, general and administrative	851			843
Depreciation and amortization	1,040			1,107
Total operating expenses	3,802			3,885
OPERATING INCOME	649			653
OTHER (EXPENSE) INCOME
Interest expense	(328		)	(331	)
Other income, net	2			9
Total other expense, net	(326		)	(322	)
INCOME BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE	323			331
Income tax expense	131			128
NET INCOME	$	192		203
BASIC AND DILUTED EARNINGS PER COMMON SHARE
BASIC	$	0.34		0.35
DILUTED	$	0.34		0.35
DIVIDENDS DECLARED PER COMMON SHARE	$	0.54		0.54
WEIGHTED AVERAGE COMMON SHARES OUTSTANDING
BASIC	561,969			574,535
DILUTED	563,505			575,456

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

(UNAUDITED)



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions)
NET INCOME	$	192		203
OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME:
Items related to employee benefit plans:
Change in net actuarial loss, net of $(15) and $(2) tax	23			3
Change in net prior service credit, net of $(2) and $(2) tax	4			3
Foreign currency translation adjustment and other, net of $— and $— tax	(11		)	1
Other comprehensive income	16			7
COMPREHENSIVE INCOME	$	208		210

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(UNAUDITED)



	March 31, 2015			December 31, 2014
	(Dollars in millions and shares in thousands)
ASSETS
CURRENT ASSETS
Cash and cash equivalents	$	155		128
Accounts receivable, less allowance of $163 and $162	1,973			1,988
Deferred income taxes, net	718			880
Other	622			580
Total current assets	3,468			3,576
NET PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT
Property, plant and equipment	37,100			36,718
Accumulated depreciation	(18,917		)	(18,285	)
Net property, plant and equipment	18,183			18,433
GOODWILL AND OTHER ASSETS
Goodwill	20,753			20,755
Customer relationships, less accumulated amortization of $4,932 and $4,682	4,644			4,893
Other intangible assets, less accumulated amortization of $1,809 and $1,729	1,616			1,647
Other, net	856			843
Total goodwill and other assets	27,869			28,138
TOTAL ASSETS	$	49,520		50,147
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Current maturities of long-term debt	$	202		550
Accounts payable	1,068			1,226
Accrued expenses and other liabilities
Salaries and benefits	578			641
Income and other taxes	418			309
Interest	315			256
Other	259			210
Advance billings and customer deposits	739			726
Total current liabilities	3,579			3,918
LONG-TERM DEBT	20,254			20,121
DEFERRED CREDITS AND OTHER LIABILITIES
Deferred income taxes, net	3,921			4,030
Benefit plan obligations, net	5,755			5,808
Other	1,246			1,247
Total deferred credits and other liabilities	10,922			11,085
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 565,530 and 568,517 shares	566			569
Additional paid-in capital	16,059			16,324
Accumulated other comprehensive loss	(2,001		)	(2,017	)
Retained earnings	141			147
Total stockholders' equity	14,765			15,023
TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY	$	49,520		50,147

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS

(UNAUDITED)



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions)
OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Net income	$	192		203
Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities:
Depreciation and amortization	1,040			1,107
Impairment of assets	8			—
Deferred income taxes	37			106
Provision for uncollectible accounts	42			30
Net long-term debt premium amortization	(4		)	(11	)
Share-based compensation	18			19
Changes in current assets and liabilities:
Accounts receivable	(27		)	60
Accounts payable	(80		)	123
Accrued income and other taxes	136			65
Other current assets and liabilities, net	(16		)	(295	)
Retirement benefits	(9		)	(28	)
Changes in other noncurrent assets and liabilities, net	(10		)	3
Other, net	9			(2	)
Net cash provided by operating activities	1,336			1,380
INVESTING ACTIVITIES
Payments for property, plant and equipment and capitalized software	(616		)	(670	)
Proceeds from sale of intangible assets or property	14			1
Other, net	(8		)	(13	)
Net cash used in investing activities	(610		)	(682	)
FINANCING ACTIVITIES
Net proceeds from issuance of long-term debt	594			—
Payments of long-term debt	(386		)	(47	)
Net (payments) borrowings on credit facility	(425		)	30
Dividends paid	(304		)	(309	)
Net proceeds from issuance of common stock	8			7
Repurchase of common stock	(185		)	(328	)
Other, net	(1		)	—
Net cash used in financing activities	(699		)	(647	)
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents	27			51
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of period	128			168
Cash and cash equivalents at end of period	$	155		219
Supplemental cash flow information:
Income taxes paid, net	$	(5	)	(10	)
Interest paid (net of capitalized interest of $13 and $10)	$	(270	)	(265	)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY

(UNAUDITED)



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions)
COMMON STOCK
Balance at beginning of period	$	569		584
Issuance of common stock through dividend reinvestment, incentive and benefit plans	2			1
Repurchase of common stock	(5		)	(10	)
Balance at end of period	566			575
ADDITIONAL PAID-IN CAPITAL
Balance at beginning of period	16,324			17,343
Issuance of common stock through dividend reinvestment, incentive and benefit plans	6			6
Repurchase of common stock	(168		)	(298	)
Shares withheld to satisfy tax withholdings	(15		)	(9	)
Dividends declared	(105		)	(184	)
Share-based compensation and other, net	17			16
Balance at end of period	16,059			16,874
ACCUMULATED OTHER COMPREHENSIVE LOSS
Balance at beginning of period	(2,017		)	(802	)
Other comprehensive income	16			7
Balance at end of period	(2,001		)	(795	)
RETAINED EARNINGS
Balance at beginning of period	147			66
Net income	192			203
Dividends declared	(198		)	(125	)
Balance at end of period	141			144
TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY	$	14,765		16,798

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

CENTURYLINK, INC.

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(UNAUDITED)

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

(1) Basis of Presentation

General

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

Our consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2014 , 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 three months of the year are not necessarily indicative of the consolidated results of operations that might be expected for the entire 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, 2014 .

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 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.

Change in Estimates

During the third quarter of 2014, we developed a plan to migrate customers from one of our networks to another between the fourth quarter of 2014 through the fourth quarter of 2015. As a result, we implemented changes in estimates that reduced the remaining economic lives of certain network assets. Although they are more than fully offset by decreases in depreciation expense resulting from normal aging of our property, plant and equipment, these changes in the estimated remaining economic lives resulted in an increase in depreciation expense of approximately $12 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 , and are expected to increase depreciation expense by approximately $48 million for the year ending December 31, 2015 . This increase in depreciation expense, net of tax, reduced consolidated net income by approximately $7 million , or $0.01 per basic and diluted common share, for the three months ended March 31, 2015 , and is expected to reduce consolidated net income by approximately $30 million , or $0.05 per basic and diluted common share for the year ending December 31, 2015 .

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Debt Issuance Costs

On April 7, 2015, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2015-03, “Interest - Imputation of Interest (Subtopic 835-30) Simplifying the Presentation of Debt Issuance Costs” (“ASU 2015-03”). ASU 2015-03 is effective for annual and interim periods beginning after December 15, 2015, and must be adopted by retrospectively applying the new standard to all periods presented in the financial statements. ASU 2015-03 may be adopted early for any financial statements that have not been issued.

ASU 2015-03 requires that the deferred costs associated with a debt issuance be recognized as a reduction in the carrying amount of the related debt rather than presented as a deferred charge included in other assets in our financial statements. ASU 2015-03 does not change the pattern of recognition for the deferred debt issuance costs. As of March 31, 2015, we have approximately $172 million of unamortized debt issuance costs that upon adoption of ASU 2015-03 will be reclassified out of other assets and recognized as a reduction in the carrying value of our long-term debt.

Revenue Recognition

On May 28, 2014, the FASB issued ASU 2014-09, “Revenue from Contracts with Customers” (“ASU 2014-09” or “new standard”). The new standard is effective for annual and interim periods beginning January 1, 2017, and early adoption is prohibited. On April 1, 2015, the FASB proposed to defer the effective date of ASU 2014-09 by one year until January 1, 2018, but would allow early adoption as of the original January 1, 2017 effective date. ASU 2014-09 may be adopted by applying the provisions of the new 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 2017. We have not yet decided which implementation method we will adopt.

The new standard 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 defer contract fulfillment costs only up to the extent of any revenue deferred.

We are studying the new standard and are in the early stages of assessing the impact the new standard will have on us and our consolidated financial statements. We cannot, however, provide any estimate of the impact of adopting the new standard at this time.

(2) Long-Term Debt and Credit Facilities

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



	Interest Rates	Maturities	As of March 31, 2015			As of December 31, 2014
			(Dollars in millions)
CenturyLink, Inc.
Senior notes	5.150% - 7.650%	2017 - 2042	$	7,975		7,825
Credit facility ⁽¹⁾	1.910% - 4.000%	2019	300			725
Term loan	1.930%	2019	374			380
Subsidiaries
Qwest Corporation
Senior notes	6.125% - 8.375%	2015 - 2054	7,311			7,311
Term Loan	1.930%	2025	100			—
Qwest Capital Funding, Inc.
Senior notes	6.500% - 7.750%	2018 - 2031	981			981
Embarq Corporation and subsidiaries
Senior notes	7.082% - 7.995%	2016 - 2036	2,669			2,669
First mortgage bonds	7.125% - 8.770%	2017 - 2025	232			232
Other	9.000%	2019	150			150
Capital lease and other obligations	Various	Various	479			509
Unamortized discounts, net			(115		)	(111	)
Total long-term debt			20,456			20,671
Less current maturities			(202		)	(550	)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities			$	20,254		20,121

______________________________________________________________________


⁽¹⁾	The outstanding amount of our credit facility ("Credit Facility") borrowings at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 , were $300 million and $725 million , respectively, with weighted average interest rates of 1.930% and 2.270% , respectively. These amounts change on a regular basis.

New Issuances

On March 19, 2015 , we issued $500 million aggregate principal amount of 5.625% Notes due 2025, in exchange for net proceeds, after deducting underwriting discounts and other expenses, of approximately $494 million . The Notes are senior unsecured obligations and may be redeemed, in whole or in part, at any time before January 1, 2025 at a redemption price equal to the greater of 100% of the principal amount of the Notes or the sum of the present value of the remaining scheduled payments of principal and interest on the Notes, discounted to the redemption date in the manner described in the Notes , plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. At any time on or after January 1, 2025 , we may redeem the Notes at par plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. In addition, at any time on or prior to April 1, 2018 , we may redeem up to 35% of the principal amount of the Notes at a redemption price equal to 105.625% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date, with net cash proceeds of certain equity offerings. Under certain circumstances, we 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.

Repayments

On February 17, 2015 , we paid at maturity the $350 million principal and accrued and unpaid interest due under our Series M 5.000% Notes.

Term Loans and Revolving Line of Credit

On March 13, 2015 , we amended our term loan agreement to reduce the interest rate payable by us thereunder and to modify some covenants to provide additional flexibility.

On February 20, 2015 , QC entered into a term loan in the amount of $100 million with CoBank, ACB. The outstanding unpaid principal amount of this term loan plus any accrued and unpaid interest is due on February 20, 2025 , the maturity date of the loan. Interest is paid quarterly based upon either the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or the base rate (as defined in the credit agreement) plus an applicable margin between 1.50% to 2.50% per annum for LIBOR loans and 0.50% to 1.50% per annum for base rate loans depending on QC's then current senior unsecured long-term debt rating. As of March 31, 2015 , the outstanding principle balance on this term loan was $100 million .

In January 2015 , we entered into a $100 million uncommitted revolving line of credit with one of the lenders under the Credit Facility.

Covenants

As of March 31, 2015 , 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 and reduced workload demands due to the loss of customers purchasing certain legacy services.

We report severance liabilities within accrued expenses and other liabilities - salaries and benefits in our consolidated balance sheets and report severance expenses in cost of services and products and 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 in our consolidated balance sheets. We report the related expenses in selling, general and administrative expenses in our consolidated statements of operations. At March 31, 2015 , the current and noncurrent portions of our leased real estate accrual were $12 million and $78 million , respectively. The remaining lease terms range from 0.3 to 10.7 years, with a weighted average of 8.5 years.

Changes in our accrued liabilities for severance expenses and leased real estate during the first three months of 2015 were as follows:



	Severance			Real Estate
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at December 31, 2014	$	26		96
Accrued to expense	13			—
Payments, net	(17		)	(3	)
Reversals and adjustments	—			(3	)
Balance at March 31, 2015	$	22		90

(4) Employee Benefits

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



	Pension Plans
	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions)
Service cost	$	22		20
Interest cost	141			151
Expected return on plan assets	(226		)	(223	)
Recognition of prior service cost	1			1
Recognition of actuarial loss	38			5
Net periodic pension benefit income	$	(24	)	(46	)

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



	Post-Retirement Benefit Plans
	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions)
Service cost	$	6		5
Interest cost	35			40
Expected return on plan assets	(5		)	(8	)
Recognition of prior service cost	5			4
Net periodic post-retirement benefit expense	$	41		41

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.

(5) Earnings Per Common Share

Basic and diluted earnings per common share for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 were calculated as follows:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions, except per share amounts, shares in thousands)
Income (Numerator):
Net income	$	192		203
Earnings applicable to non-vested restricted stock	—			—
Net income applicable to common stock for computing basic earnings per common share	192			203
Net income as adjusted for purposes of computing diluted earnings per common share	$	192		203
Shares (Denominator):
Weighted average number of shares:
Outstanding during period	566,687			578,197
Non-vested restricted stock	(4,718		)	(3,662	)
Weighted average shares outstanding for computing basic earnings per common share	561,969			574,535
Incremental common shares attributable to dilutive securities:
Shares issuable under convertible securities	10			10
Shares issuable under incentive compensation plans	1,526			911
Number of shares as adjusted for purposes of computing diluted earnings per common share	563,505			575,456
Basic earnings per common share	$	0.34		0.35
Diluted earnings per common share	$	0.34		0.35

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 during the periods reflected in the table above. Such potentially issuable shares averaged 2.2 million and 3.1 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 , 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 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 March 31, 2015			As of December 31, 2014
	Input Level	Carrying Amount		Fair Value	Carrying Amount	Fair Value
		(Dollars in millions)
Liabilities—Long-term debt, excluding capital lease and other obligations	2	$	19,977	21,409	20,162	21,255

(7) Segment Information

Segment Data

Effective November 1, 2014, we implemented a new organizational structure designed to strengthen our ability to attain our operational, strategic and financial goals. Prior to this reorganization, we operated and reported as four segments: consumer, business, wholesale and hosting. As a result of this reorganization, we now operate and report the following two segments in our consolidated financial statements:

•

Business. Consists generally of providing strategic, legacy and data integration products and services to enterprise, wholesale and governmental customers, including other communication providers. Our strategic products and services offered to these customers include our private line (including special access), broadband, Ethernet, MPLS, Voice over Internet Protocol ("VoIP"), network management services, colocation, managed hosting and cloud hosting services. Our legacy services offered to these customers primarily include switched access, long-distance, and local services, including the sale of unbundled network elements ("UNEs") which allow our wholesale customers to use our network or a combination of our network and their own networks to provide voice and data services to their customers; and


•	Consumer. 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, wireless and video services, including our Prism TV services. Our legacy services offered to these customers include local and long-distance services.

The following table summarizes our segment results for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 , based on the segment categorization we were operating under at March 31, 2015 .

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



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014 ⁽¹⁾
	(Dollars in millions)
Total segment revenues	$	4,194		4,284
Total segment expenses	2,073			2,096
Total segment income	$	2,121		2,188
Total margin percentage	51		%	51	%
Business:
Revenues	2,697			2,775
Expenses	1,484			1,503
Income	$	1,213		1,272
Margin percentage	45		%	46	%
Consumer:
Revenues	$	1,497		1,509
Expenses	589			593
Income	$	908		916
Margin percentage	61		%	61	%

______________________________________________________________________


⁽¹⁾	Reflects the recasting of segment results discussed in the next section entitled "Recent Changes in Segment Reporting."

Recent Changes in Segment Reporting


•	Certain business segment expenses were reassigned to consumer segment expense; and


•	Certain business segment expenses were reassigned to corporate overhead.

For the three months ended March 31, 2014 , the segment recast resulted in an increase in consumer expenses of $10 million , and a decrease in business expenses of $13 million .

Product and Service Categories

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

•

Strategic services , which include primarily broadband, private line (including special access), MPLS (which is a data networking technology that can deliver the quality of service required to support real-time voice and video), hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), colocation, Ethernet, video (including our facilities-based video services, which we now offer in fourteen markets), VoIP and Verizon Wireless services;


•	Legacy services , which include primarily local, long-distance, switched access, Integrated Services Digital Network ("ISDN") (which uses regular telephone lines to support voice, video and data applications), and traditional wide area network ("WAN") services (which allow a local communications network to link to networks in remote locations);


•	Data integration , which includes the sale of telecommunications equipment located on customers' premises and related 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 revenues, which consist primarily of Universal Service Fund ("USF") support and USF surcharges. We receive both federal and state USF support, which are government subsidies designed to reimburse us for the portion of the cost of providing certain telecommunications services, such as in high-cost rural areas, that we are not able to recover 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 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 revenues for our products and services consisted of the following categories:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015		2014
	(Dollars in millions)
Strategic services	$	2,320	2,271
Legacy services	1,735		1,839
Data integration	139		174
Other	257		254
Total operating revenues	$	4,451	4,538

During the first quarter of 2015, we determined that certain products and services associated with our acquisition of SAVVIS, Inc. are more closely aligned to legacy services than to strategic services. As a result, these operating revenues are now reflected as legacy services. The revision resulted in a reduction of revenue from strategic services of $10 million and a corresponding increase in revenue from legacy services for the three months ended March 31, 2014.

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 reflects the related expense for the amounts we remit to the government agencies. The total amount of such surcharges that we included in revenues aggregated approximately $135 million and $131 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 , respectively. Those USF surcharges, where we record revenue, are included in the "other" operating revenues and transaction tax surcharges 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 include in our bills to 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 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 directly associated with specific segment customers or activities; and 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. Similarly, 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 total company basis and have not allocated assets or debt to specific segments. Other income (expense) is not monitored as a part of our segment operations and is therefore excluded from our segment results.

The following table reconciles segment income to net income:



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions)
Total segment income	$	2,121		2,188
Other operating revenues	257			254
Depreciation and amortization	(1,040		)	(1,107	)
Other unassigned operating expenses	(689		)	(682	)
Other expense, net	(326		)	(322	)
Income tax expense	(131		)	(128	)
Net income	$	192		203

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. As a matter of course, we are prepared both to litigate the 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 the 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 a class on certain of plaintiffs' claims, but rejected class certification as to other claims. 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 allege breach of fiduciary duty in connection with the changes in retiree benefits that also are at issue in the Fulghum case. The Abbott plaintiffs are all members of the class that was certified in Fulghum on claims for allegedly vested benefits (Counts I and III), and the Abbott claims are similar to the Fulghum breach of fiduciary duty claim (Count II), on which the Fulghum court denied class certification. The Court has stayed proceedings in Abbott indefinitely, except for limited discovery and motion practice as to approximately 80 of the plaintiffs. On February 14, 2013, the Fulghum court dismissed the majority of the plaintiffs' claims in that case. On July 16, 2013, the Fulghum court granted plaintiffs' request to seek interlocutory review by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. On February 24, 2015, the Tenth Circuit ruled that the plan documents reviewed do not support any claim for vested benefits, and affirmed the district court's dismissal of claims based on those documents. The Tenth Circuit decision allows a subset of claims for vested benefits to return to the district court for further proceedings. As to the subset, defendants anticipate successful motion practice in the district court. The Tenth Circuit also affirmed the district court's dismissal of all age discrimination claims. The Tenth Circuit reversed the district court's determination that ERISA's statute of repose is a time bar to the breach of fiduciary duty claims of fifteen named plaintiffs. Plaintiffs petitioned for further Tenth Circuit review on their claim for vested benefits. We petitioned for further Tenth Circuit review regarding the ERISA statute of repose. On April 27, 2015, a revised Tenth Circuit panel opinion was issued with no material change in the outcome, and en banc review was denied. As to any further proceedings that may occur in the district court, defendants will continue to vigorously contest any remaining claims in Fulghum and Abbott. We have not accrued a liability for these matters because we believe it is premature (i) to determine whether an accrual is warranted and (ii) if so, to determine a reasonable estimate of probable liability.

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 November 2014, Comcast filed a Notice of Appeal. We have not accrued a liability for this matter because we do not believe that liability is probable.

On September 13, 2006, Cargill Financial Markets, Plc ("Cargill") and Citibank, N.A. ("Citibank") filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, against Qwest, Koninklijke KPN N.V., KPN Telecom B.V., and other former officers, employees or supervisory board members of KPNQwest N.V. ("KPNQwest"), some of whom were formerly affiliated with Qwest. The lawsuit alleges that defendants misrepresented KPNQwest's financial and business condition in connection with the origination of a credit facility and wrongfully allowed KPNQwest to borrow funds under that facility. Plaintiffs allege damages of approximately €219 million (or approximately $238 million based on the exchange rate on March 31, 2015 ). The value of this claim will be reduced to the degree plaintiffs receive recovery from a distribution of assets from the bankruptcy estate of KPNQwest. The extent of such expected recovery is not yet known. On April 25, 2012, the court issued its judgment denying the claims asserted by Cargill and Citibank in their lawsuit. Cargill and Citibank have appealed that decision. We do not believe that liability is probable in this matter.

The terms and conditions of applicable bylaws, certificates or articles of incorporation, agreements or applicable law may obligate Qwest to indemnify its former directors, officers or employees with respect to the Cargill matter described above, and Qwest has been advancing legal fees and costs to certain former directors, officers or employees in connection with that matter.

Several putative class actions relating to the installation of fiber optic cable in certain rights-of-way were filed against Qwest on behalf of landowners on various dates and in courts located in 34 states in which Qwest has such cable (Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin.) For the most part, the complaints challenge our right to install our fiber optic cable in railroad rights-of-way. The complaints allege that the railroads own the right-of-way as an easement that did not include the right to permit us to install our cable in the right-of-way without the plaintiffs' consent. In general, the complaints seek damages on theories of trespass and unjust enrichment, as well as punitive damages. After previous attempts to enter into a single nationwide settlement in a single court proved unsuccessful, the parties proceeded to seek court approval of settlements on a state-by-state basis. To date, the parties have received final approval of such settlements in 32 states. The settlement administration process, including claim submission and evaluation, is continuing in relation to a number of these settlements. The parties have not yet received final approval in one state (New Mexico). There is one state where an action was at one time, but is not currently, pending (Arizona). We have accrued an amount that we believe is probable for resolving these matters; however, the amount is not material to our consolidated financial statements.

CenturyLink and certain of its affiliates are defendants in one consolidated securities and four shareholder derivative actions. The actions are pending in federal court in the Western District of Louisiana. Plaintiffs in these actions have variously alleged, among other things, that CenturyLink and certain of its current and former officers and directors violated federal securities laws and/or breached fiduciary duties owed to the Company and its shareholders. Plaintiffs' complaints focus on alleged material misstatements or omissions concerning CenturyLink's financial condition and changes in CenturyLink's capital allocation strategy in early 2013. On April 21, 2015, the district court dismissed the consolidated securities class actions with prejudice. An appeal is possible. As to any further proceedings that may occur in these actions, we will continue to vigorously defend against the actions. We have not accrued a liability for these matters because we do not believe that liability is probable.

The local exchange carrier subsidiaries of CenturyLink are among hundreds of defendants nationwide in dozens of lawsuits filed over the past year by Sprint Communications Company and affiliates of Verizon Communications Inc. The plaintiffs in these suits have challenged the right of local exchange carriers to bill interexchange carriers for switched access charges for certain calls between mobile and wireline devices that are routed through an interexchange carrier. In the lawsuits, the plaintiffs are seeking refunds of access charges previously paid and relief from future access charges. In addition, these and some other interexchange carriers have ceased paying switched access charges on these calls. Recently the lawsuits involving our local exchange carriers and many other carriers have been consolidated for pretrial purposes in the United States District Court for the District of Northern Texas. Some of the defendants, including our affiliated carriers, have petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to address these issues on an industry-wide basis.

As both an interexchange carrier and a local exchange carrier, we both pay and assess significant amounts of the access charges in question. The outcome of these disputes and suits, 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.

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. 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.

We are currently defending several patent infringement lawsuits asserted against us by non-practicing entities. 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 both to litigate the matters to judgment, as well as to evaluate and consider all reasonable settlement opportunities.

(9) Other Financial Information

Other Current Assets

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



	As of March 31, 2015		As of December 31, 2014
	(Dollars in millions)
Prepaid expenses	$	293	260
Materials, supplies and inventory	137		132
Assets held for sale	18		14
Deferred activation and installation charges	104		103
Other	70		71
Total other current assets	$	622	580

For the three months ended March 31, 2015, we recorded impairment charges of $8 million in connection with pending negotiations involving several office buildings which we expect to sell within the next twelve months.

Selected Current Liabilities

The following table presents current liabilities reflected in our consolidated balance sheets, which include accounts payable and other current liabilities:



	As of March 31, 2015		As of December 31, 2014
	(Dollars in millions)
Accounts payable	$	1,068	1,226
Other current liabilities:
Accrued rent	$	28	34
Legal reserves	43		27
Other	188		149
Total other current liabilities	$	259	210

Included in accounts payable at March 31, 2015 and December 31, 2014 , were $62 million and $80 million , respectively, representing book overdrafts and $107 million and $185 million , respectively, associated with capital expenditures.

(10) Repurchase of CenturyLink Common Stock

In February 2014, our Board of Directors authorized a 24 -month program to repurchase up to an aggregate of $1 billion of our outstanding common stock. This program took effect on May 29, 2014, immediately upon the completion of our predecessor 2013 stock repurchase program. During the three months ended March 31, 2015 , we repurchased 4.5 million shares of our outstanding common stock in the open market under our 2014 stock repurchase program. These shares were repurchased for an aggregate market price of $170 million , or an average purchase price of $37.53 per share. The repurchased common stock has been retired. As of March 31, 2015 , we had approximately $630 million remaining available for stock repurchases under the 2014 stock repurchase program. As of May 4, 2015, we had repurchased 11.7 million shares for $439 million , or an average price of $37.60 per share, under our 2014 stock repurchase program.

(11) Accumulated Other Comprehensive Loss

The tables below summarize changes in accumulated other comprehensive loss recorded on our consolidated balance sheets by component for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 :



	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	—			—		(11	)	(11	)
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income	24			3		—		27
Net current-period other comprehensive income	24			3		(11	)	16
Balance at March 31, 2015	$	(1,696	)	(269	)	(36	)	(2,001	)



	Pension Plans			Post-Retirement Benefit Plans		Foreign Currency Translation Adjustment and Other		Total
	(Dollars in millions)
Balance at December 31, 2013	$	(669	)	(122	)	(11	)	(802	)
Other comprehensive income (loss) before reclassifications	—			—		1		1
Amounts reclassified from accumulated other comprehensive income	3			3		—		6
Net current-period other comprehensive income	3			3		1		7
Balance at March 31, 2014	$	(666	)	(119	)	(10	)	(795	)

The tables below present further information about our reclassifications out of accumulated other comprehensive loss by component for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 :



Three Months Ended March 31, 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	$	(38	)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Prior service cost	(6		)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Total before tax	(44		)
Income tax expense	17			Income tax expense
Net of tax	$	(27	)



Three Months Ended March 31, 2014	(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	$	(5	)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Prior service cost	(5		)	See Note 4-Employee Benefits
Total before tax	(10		)
Income tax expense	4			Income tax expense
Net of tax	$	(6	)

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, 2014 , 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 three months of the year are not necessarily indicative of the results of operations that might be expected for the entire year.

We are an integrated communications company engaged primarily in providing an array of communications services to our residential, business, governmental and wholesale customers. Our communications services include local and long-distance, broadband, private line (including special access), Multi-Protocol Label Switching ("MPLS"), data integration, managed hosting (including cloud hosting), colocation, Ethernet, network access, video, wireless and other ancillary services. We strive to maintain our customer relationships by, among other things, bundling our service offerings to provide our customers with a complete offering of integrated communications services.

At March 31, 2015 , we operated approximately 12.3 million access lines in 37 states, served approximately 6.1 million broadband subscribers, and 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", may not be comparable to those of other companies.

•


•	Consumer. 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, wireless and video services, including our Prism TV services. Our legacy services offered to these customers include local and long-distance services.

Results of Operations

The following table summarizes the results of our consolidated operations for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 :



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions except per share amounts)
Operating revenues	$	4,451		4,538
Operating expenses	3,802			3,885
Operating income	649			653
Other expense, net	(326		)	(322	)
Income tax expense	131			128
Net income	$	192		203
Basic earnings per common share	$	0.34		0.35
Diluted earnings per common share	$	0.34		0.35

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



	As of March 31,		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2015	2014	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(in thousands except for data centers, which are actual amounts)
Operational metrics:
Total broadband subscribers ⁽¹⁾	6,117	6,057	60		1.0	%
Total access lines ⁽¹⁾	12,270	12,882	(612	)	(4.8	)%
Total data centers ⁽²⁾	58	56	2		3.6	%
Total employees	44.8	46.5	(1.7	)	(3.7	)%

______________________________________________________________________

⁽¹⁾

Broadband subscribers are customers that purchase high-speed Internet connection service through their existing telephone lines, stand-alone telephone lines, or fiber-optic cables, and access lines are lines reaching from the customers' premises to a connection with the public network. Our methodology for counting our broadband subscribers and access lines 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 colocation services, managed hosting (including cloud hosting) services, multi-tenant managed services, or any combination thereof. Our data centers are located throughout North America, Europe and Asia.

During the last decade, we have experienced revenue declines primarily due to declines in access lines, switched access rates and minutes of use. To mitigate these 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 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 usage of our networks; and


•	market our products and services to new customers.

Operating Revenues

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

•


•	Legacy services , which include primarily local, long-distance, switched access, Integrated Services Digital Network ("ISDN") (which uses regular telephone lines to support voice, video and data applications), and traditional wide area network ("WAN") services (which allow a local communications network to link to networks in remote locations);


•	Data integration , which includes the sale of telecommunications equipment located on customers' premises and related 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 revenues, which consists primarily of Universal Service Fund ("USF") support and USF surcharges. We receive both federal and state USF support, which are government subsidies designed to reimburse us for the portion of the cost of providing certain telecommunications services, such as in high-cost rural areas, that we are not able to recover 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 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 table summarizes our consolidated operating revenues recorded under our four revenue categories:



	Three Months Ended March 31,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2015		2014	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Strategic services	$	2,320	2,271	49		2	%
Legacy services	1,735		1,839	(104	)	(6	)%
Data integration	139		174	(35	)	(20	)%
Other	257		254	3		1	%
Total operating revenues	$	4,451	4,538	(87	)	(2	)%

Our total operating revenues decreased by $87 million , or 2% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to declines in legacy services and data integration revenues, which were partially offset by growth in our strategic services revenues. The decrease in legacy services revenues is attributable to the continuing loss of access lines and loss of access revenues primarily due to the displacement of traditional wireline telephone services by other competitive products and services, including internet and wireless communication services. The decline in data integration revenues, which are typically more volatile than several of our other sources of revenue, is primarily due to lower sales of customer premises equipment to governmental and business customers during the period. The growth in our strategic services revenues is primarily due to increases in broadband, Ethernet, MPLS and facilities-based video services, which were substantially offset by a decline in private line (including special access) services attributable to lower volumes. We estimate that the rate of our access lines losses will be between 4.4% and 5.0% over the full year of 2015. Other operating revenues increased by $3 million , or 1% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to higher revenues related to an increased universal service fund contribution factor, which was substantially offset by lower revenues from intrastate universal service funds.

We are aggressively marketing our strategic services (including our hosting services) in an effort to offset the continuing declines in our legacy services revenues.

Our future federal USF support revenues could be materially impacted by our upcoming election to receive or reject any specific opportunities to construct additional broadband service plant in unserved portions of our service areas under Phase 2 of the FCC Connect America Fund ("CAF") program. For additional information about the potential revenue impact of the CAF Phase 2 program, see the discussion below in "Liquidity and Capital Resources—Connect America Fund."

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

Operating Expenses

The following table summarizes our consolidated operating expenses:



	Three Months Ended March 31,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2015		2014	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Cost of services and products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization)	$	1,911	1,935	(24	)	(1	)%
Selling, general and administrative	851		843	8		1	%
Depreciation and amortization	1,040		1,107	(67	)	(6	)%
Total operating expenses	$	3,802	3,885	(83	)	(2	)%

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

Cost of services and products (exclusive of depreciation and amortization) decreased by $24 million , or 1% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to decreases in customer premises equipment installation expenses related to the decrease in data integration revenues and employee-related costs, which were partially offset by increases in network expenses, facility costs and Prism TV programming expenses.

Selling, General and Administrative

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by $8 million , or 1% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to increases in bad debt expense, regulatory fines of $15 million associated with a 911 system outage and impairment charges related to office buildings currently being marketed and classified as assets held for sale, which were partially offset by decreases in employee-related costs and property and other taxes.

Depreciation and Amortization

The following table provides detail of our depreciation and amortization expense:



	Three Months Ended March 31,			Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2015		2014	Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Depreciation	$	694	717	(23	)	(3	)%
Amortization	346		390	(44	)	(11	)%
Total depreciation and amortization	$	1,040	1,107	(67	)	(6	)%

Depreciation and amortization expenses decreased by $67 million , or 6% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 .

Depreciation expense was $694 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to $ 717 million for the three months ended March 31, 2014 . Annual 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 assets and the addition of new plant. The depreciation expense related to our plant for the first quarter of 2015 was lower than the depreciation expense for the first quarter of 2014 due to full depreciation and retirement of certain plant placed in service prior to 2015. This decrease was partially offset by increases in depreciation of new plant placed in service in the first quarter of 2015 and the impact of changes in the estimated lives of certain property, plant and equipment, which resulted in additional depreciation in the first quarter of 2015. We anticipate that the changes in the estimated lives of certain property, plant and equipment will result in an increase in depreciation expense of approximately $48 million for 2015, which will be fully offset by the decreases in depreciation expense noted above. For more information about the changes in our estimates of the remaining economic lives of these assets, see Note 1—Basis of Presentation to our consolidated financial statements in Item 1 of Part I of this report.

Amortization expense decreased by $44 million from $390 million in the three months ended March 31, 2014 to $346 million in the three months ended March 31, 2015 primarily due to the use of accelerated amortization methods for a portion of the customer relationship assets acquired in connection with the acquisitions of Embarq in 2009 and Qwest in 2011. These quarterly declines are expected to continue. In addition, amortization of our software investments declined due to software becoming fully amortized faster than new software was internally developed or purchased.

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

Other Consolidated Results

The following table summarizes our total other expense, net and income tax expense:



	Three Months Ended March 31,					Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2015			2014		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Interest expense	$	(328	)	(331	)	(3	)	(1	)%
Other income, net	2			9		(7	)	(78	)%
Total other expense, net	$	(326	)	(322	)	4		1	%
Income tax expense	$	131		128		3		2	%

Interest Expense

Interest expense decreased by $3 million , or 1% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to a lower average outstanding debt balance and an increase in capitalized interest, which were substantially offset by a reduction in the amortization of debt premiums.

Other Income, Net

Other income, net reflects certain items not directly related to our core operations, including our share of income from our 49% interest in a cellular partnership, interest income, gains and losses from non-operating asset dispositions and foreign currency gains and losses. Other income, net decreased by $7 million , or 78% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to increased losses on foreign currency transactions in the current period as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014.

Income Tax Expense

For the three months ended March 31, 2015 and 2014 , our effective income tax rate was 40.6% and 38.7% , respectively. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2015 , includes the effect of regulatory fines associated with a 911 system outage. The effective tax rate for the three months ended March 31, 2014 , reflects the impact of the reversal of unrecognized tax benefits, which modestly decreased the rate for the first quarter of 2014 .

Segment Results

General

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



	Three Months Ended March 31,
	2015			2014
	(Dollars in millions)
Total segment revenues	$	4,194		4,284
Total segment expenses	2,073			2,096
Total segment income	$	2,121		2,188
Total margin percentage	51		%	51	%
Business:
Revenues	$	2,697		2,775
Expenses	1,484			1,503
Income	$	1,213		1,272
Income margin percentage	45		%	46	%
Consumer:
Revenues	$	1,497		1,509
Expenses	589			593
Income	$	908		916
Income margin percentage	61		%	61	%

Recent Changes in Segment Reporting

We have recast our previously reported segment results due to the reorganization of our management structure on November 1, 2014. Consequently, we have adopted several changes with respect to the assignment of certain expenses to our segments, including changes that increased our consumer segment expenses and decreased our business segment expenses in prior periods. We have restated our previously reported segment results for the three months ended March 31, 2014 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. Segment revenues are based upon each customer's classification as either a business or consumer. 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

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 enterprise, wholesale and governmental customers increasingly demand integrated data, Internet, hosting and voice services. Although we are experiencing price compression on our strategic services due to competition, we expect strategic revenues from these services to continue to grow during 2015. Demand for our private line services (including special access) from our wholesale customers continues to decline due to our customers' optimization of their networks, industry consolidation and technological migration to higher-speed services. While we expect that these factors will continue to negatively impact our wholesale customers, we believe the demand for our fiber-based special access services provided to wireless carriers for backhaul will partially offset the decline in copper-based special access services provided to wireless carriers as they migrate to Ethernet services, although the timing and magnitude of this technological migration remains uncertain. We anticipate continued pricing pressure for our colocation services as wholesale vendors continue to expand their enterprise colocation operations. We believe, however, that our hybrid service capabilities, which offer multiple products and services (including colocation, managed hosting, cloud and network services), will help differentiate our products and services from those offered by competitors with a narrower range of products and services. We have remained focused on expanding our managed hosting services, specifically our cloud services offerings, by endeavoring to add differentiating features to our cloud products and acquiring additional companies that we believe have strengthened our cloud products. In recent years, our competitors, as well as several large, diversified technology companies, have made substantial investments in cloud computing, which has intensified competitive pressures. This expansion in competitive cloud computing offerings has led to increased pricing pressure and competition for enterprise customers, and we expect these trends to continue. Segment revenue for hosting area network products supporting colocation and managed hosting service offerings have been relatively flat due to providing lower volumes of such services, as well as pricing pressures on VPN and bandwidth services;

•

Legacy services. We face intense competition with respect to our higher margin legacy services and continue to see customers migrating away from these services and into lower margin strategic services. In addition, our legacy services revenues have been, and we expect they will continue to be, adversely affected by access line losses and price compression. 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, declining demand for traditional voice services, industry consolidation and price compression caused by regulation and rate reductions. For example, many wholesale customers are substituting cable, wireless and VoIP services for traditional voice telecommunications services, resulting in continued access revenue loss. Our switched access revenues have been and will continue to be impacted by changes related to the Connect America and Intercarrier Compensation Reform order ("the 2011 order") adopted by the FCC in 2011, which we believe has increased the pace of reductions in the amount of switched access revenues we receive from our wholesale customers;


•	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 recently experienced substantial budget cuts with the possibility of additional future budget cuts; 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, including the hiring of additional sales employees. We also expect our business segment to benefit indirectly from enhanced efficiencies in our company-wide network operations.

The following table summarizes the results of operations from our business segment:



	Business Segment
	Three Months Ended March 31,					Increase / (Decrease)		%Change
	2015			2014		Increase / (Decrease)		%Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Segment revenues:
Strategic services	$	1,582		1,569		13		1	%
Legacy services	977			1,033		(56	)	(5	)%
Data integration	138			173		(35	)	(20	)%
Total revenues	2,697			2,775		(78	)	(3	)%
Segment expenses:
Total expenses	1,484			1,503		(19	)	(1	)%
Segment income	$	1,213		1,272		(59	)	(5	)%
Segment income margin percentage	45		%	46	%

Segment Revenues

Business revenues decreased by $78 million , or 3% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 . The decrease in business segment revenues was primarily due to decline in legacy services revenues and data integration revenues, which were partially offset by growth in our strategic services revenues. The decline in legacy services revenues was attributable to a reduction in local service access lines and lower volumes of long-distance, access and traditional WAN services for the reasons noted above. The decrease in data integration revenues was primarily due to lower sales of customer premises equipment to governmental and business customers during the period. The growth in our strategic services revenues was primarily due to strong MPLS unit growth and higher Ethernet volumes, which were substantially offset by a decline in private line (including special access) services attributable to lower volumes.

Segment Expenses

Business expenses decreased by $19 million , or 1% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to a decrease in customer premises equipment costs resulting from the lower governmental and business sales noted above and a reduction in employee-related expenses attributable to employee benefits and professional fees, which were partially offset by increases in network expenses, external commissions and facility costs.

Segment Income

Business income decreased by $59 million , or 5% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 . The decrease in business segment income was primarily due to the loss of customers and lower service volumes in our legacy services, which caused the declines in our revenues to outpace the declines in our segment expenses.

Consumer

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, demand for our broadband services could be adversely affected by competitors continuing to provide services at higher average broadband speed than ours or expanding their advanced wireless data service offerings. We also continue to expand our other strategic product offerings, including facilities-based video services. The expansion of our facilities-based video service infrastructure requires us to incur substantial content and start-up expenses in advance of marketing and selling the service. Although, over time, we expect that our revenue for facilities-based video services will offset the expenses incurred, the timing of this revenue growth is uncertain and the video business is growing increasingly competitive. We believe these efforts to expand our offerings will ultimately improve our ability to compete and increase our strategic revenues;

•

Legacy services. Our voice revenues have been, and we expect they will continue to be, adversely affected by access line losses. 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;


•	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; and

•

The following table summarizes the results of operations from our consumer segment:



	Consumer Segment
	Three Months Ended March 31,					Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	2015			2014		Increase / (Decrease)		% Change
	(Dollars in millions)
Segment revenues:
Strategic services	$	738		702		36		5	%
Legacy services	758			806		(48	)	(6	)%
Data integration	1			1		—		—	%
Total revenues	1,497			1,509		(12	)	(1	)%
Segment expenses:
Total expenses	589			593		(4	)	(1	)%
Segment income	$	908		916		(8	)	(1	)%
Segment income margin percentage	61		%	61	%

Segment Revenues

Consumer revenues decreased by $12 million , or 1% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 . The decline in legacy services revenues was primarily due to declines in local and long-distance service volumes associated with access line losses resulting from the reasons noted above. The increase in strategic services revenues was due primarily to increases in the number of our Prism TV customers and increases in the number of broadband subscribers, as well as from price increases on various services.

Segment Expenses

Consumer expenses decreased by $4 million , or 1% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to decreases in employee-related expenses, which were substantially offset by increases in programming expenses for Prism TV content resulting from subscriber growth in our Prism TV markets and content rate increases and bad debt expense.

Segment Income

Consumer income decreased by $8 million , or 1% , for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 . The decline in consumer segment income was primarily due to customers migrating from legacy services to lower margin strategic services, which caused our segment revenues to decrease and our segment expenses to increase.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Overview

At March 31, 2015 , we held cash and cash equivalents of $155 million and we had approximately $1.7 billion of borrowing capacity available under our $2.0 billion revolving credit facility (as amended and referred to as our "Credit Facility", which is described further below). At March 31, 2015 , cash and cash equivalents of $53 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 2015 , 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 previously-disclosed effect of the anticipated depletion of our federal net operating loss carryforwards during 2015 .

Based on our current capital allocation objectives, during the remaining nine months of 2015 we anticipate expending approximately $2.4 billion of cash for capital investment in property, plant and equipment and up to $916 million for dividends on our common stock, based on the current quarterly common stock dividend rate of $0.54 and the current number of outstanding common shares. We have debt maturities of approximately $92 million , scheduled debt principal payments of approximately $17 million and scheduled capital lease and other obligation payments of approximately $56 million due during the remainder of 2015. We also anticipate expending cash for repurchasing common stock, but the amount will largely depend on market conditions.

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 use our revolving credit facility as a source of liquidity for operating activities and to give us additional flexibility to finance, among other things, our capital investments, repayments of debt, pension contributions, dividends or stock repurchases.

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. Based on our current objectives, we estimate our total capital expenditures will be approximately $2.4 billion for the remaining nine months of 2015.

Our capital expenditures continue to be focused largely on our strategic services. For more information on capital spending, see Items 1 and 1A of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 .

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.

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.	Ba2	Baa3
Fitch Ratings	BB+	BBB-

Our credit ratings are reviewed and adjusted from time to time by the rating agencies, and downgrades of CenturyLink's senior unsecured debt ratings could, under certain circumstances, incrementally increase the cost of our borrowing under the Credit Facility. Moreover, any downgrades of CenturyLink'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.

Net Operating Loss Carryforwards

We are currently using NOLs to offset our federal taxable income. At December 31, 2014 , we had approximately $1.6 billion of federal net operating losses. Based on current laws and circumstances, including the statutory extension allowing bonus depreciation for 2014, we now expect to deplete a substantial portion of these tax benefits during 2015. Once our NOLs are substantially utilized, we expect that the amounts of our cash flows dedicated to the payment of federal taxes will increase substantially thereafter. The amounts of those payments will depend upon many factors, including future earnings, tax law changes and future tax circumstances. For additional information, see "Risk Factors—Risks Affecting Our Liquidity and Capital Resources" appearing in Item 1A of Part II of this report.

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. 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 each quarter would be approximately $305 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 and the discussion of our stock repurchase program below.

Stock Repurchase Program

In February 2014, our Board of Directors authorized a 24 -month program to repurchase up to an aggregate of $1 billion of our outstanding common stock. This 2014 stock repurchase program took effect on May 29, 2014, immediately upon the completion of our predecessor 2013 stock repurchase program. For the three months ended March 31, 2015 , we repurchased 4.5 million shares for $170 million or an average purchase price of $37.53 per share under this 2014 stock repurchase program (excluding common shares that, as of March 31, 2015, we had agreed to purchase under the program for an aggregate of $9 million in transactions that settled early in the second quarter of 2015). The repurchased common stock has been retired. We currently expect to continue purchasing shares under this 2014 program in open market transactions, subject to market conditions and other factors. As of March 31, 2015 , we had approximately $630 million remaining available for stock repurchases under this 2014 stock repurchase program. As of May 4, 2015, we had repurchased 11.7 million shares for $439 million , or an average price of $37.60 per share, under our 2014 stock repurchase program. For additional information on repurchases made during the three months ended March 31, 2015 , see Item 2 of Part II of this report.

Credit Facilities and Term Loans

We maintain a $2 billion revolving credit facility, which, as amended, matures on December 3, 2019. The amended Credit Facility (the "Credit Facility") has 16 lenders, with commitments ranging from $3.5 million to $198.5 million and 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 March 31, 2015 , we had $300 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. To the extent that our EBITDA (as defined in our Credit Facility) is reduced by cash settlements or judgments, including in respect of any of the matters discussed in Note 8—Commitment and Contingencies to our consolidated financial statements in Item 1 of Part I of this report, our debt to EBITDA ratios under certain debt agreements will be adversely affected. 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.

At March 31, 2015 , we owed $374 million under a term loan maturing in 2019 , which includes covenants substantially the same as those set forth in the Credit Facility. At March 31, 2015 , QC owed $100 million under a term loan maturing in 2025.

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 March 31, 2015 , our outstanding letters of credit totaled $119 million under this facility.

On March 13, 2015, we amended our term loan agreement to reduce the interest rate payable by us thereunder and to modify some covenants to provide additional flexibility.

In January 2015, we entered into a $100 million uncommitted revolving line of credit with one of the lenders under the Credit Facility.

Future Contractual Obligations

For information regarding our estimated future contractual obligations, see the MD&A discussion included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 .

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, 2014 , the accounting unfunded status of our defined benefit pension plans and post-retirement plans were $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion , respectively. See Note 7—Employee Benefits to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of Part II of our Annual Report Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 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 plan assets. We made no cash contributions to the trust for the three months ended March 31, 2015 and, based on current laws and circumstances, we do not expect any contributions to be required for our qualified pension plan for the remaining nine months of 2015 . The amount of required contributions to our qualified pension plan in 2016 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.

Certain of our post-retirement health care and life insurance benefits plans are unfunded. Several trusts hold assets that are used to partially cover the health care costs of certain retirees. As of December 31, 2014 , the fair value of these trust assets was approximately $353 million ; however, a portion of these assets is comprised of investments with restricted liquidity. We estimate that the more liquid assets in the trust will be adequate to provide continuing reimbursements for covered post-retirement health care costs for approximately two years. Thereafter, covered benefits will be paid either directly by us or from the trusts as the remaining assets become liquid. This projected two year period could be shorter or longer depending on returns on plan assets, the timing of maturities of illiquid plan assets and future changes in benefits.

For 2015, our estimated annual long-term rate of return is 7.5% 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.

In 2014, we adopted new mortality assumptions, which significantly increased the accounting unfunded status of our pension and post-retirement benefit obligations. For additional information on this and other factors that could influence our funding commitments under our benefit plans, see "Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates—Pension and Post-retirement Benefits" in this Item 7 of Part II of our Annual Report Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and "Risk Factors—Risks Affecting Our Liquidity and Capital Resources—Increases in costs for pension and healthcare benefits for our active and retired employee may reduce our profitability and increase our funding commitments" in Item 1A of Part II of this report.

Connect America Fund

In October 2011, the FCC adopted the Connect America and Intercarrier Compensation Reform order intended to reform the existing regulatory regime to recognize ongoing shifts to new technologies. Among other changes, this initial ruling established the framework for a multi-year transition of federal universal service funding to a new system where such funding is explicitly targeted to the deployment and provisioning of broadband services in high cost areas. In December 2014, the FCC issued an order finalizing requirements and conditions of the CAF phase 2 program in order to proceed with the offer of support to price cap carriers. On April 29, 2015 the FCC announced the official offer of support to price cap carriers, on a state by state basis, to build and operate a network capable of providing high-speed broadband services to underserved areas. We now have until August 27, 2015 to elect whether to exercise a “right of first refusal” to provide broadband services to households in unserved/underserved areas of our service territory. The FCC has offered to us up to $514 million per year for the next six years to provide service to 1,190,016 locations in census blocks subject to the offer. To the extent that we choose not to accept these opportunities and related CAF Phase 2 funds for any state under our right of first refusal, we expect that those opportunities and funds would be awarded at auction in either 2016 or 2017. We currently expect that we, as well as other communications companies, would be able to participate in these various future state auctions in either 2016 or 2017.

The effects on us of either accepting or rejecting CAF Phase 2 funding are highly uncertain over the long term. In states where we accept the CAF Phase 2 funding, the annual distributions will begin later in 2015. In states where we do not accept CAF Phase 2 support, the legacy USF high-cost support, also referred to as “Frozen Support”, we have historically received, will continue until the CAF Phase 2 auctions are completed. If we elect by August 27, 2015 to receive all $514 million CAF Phase 2 funding available to us, the total support per year will be approximately $169 million greater than the federal Universal Service Fund high-cost support subsidies the CAF Phase 2 opportunities would replace. However, to obtain this additional $169 million of support, we will likely need to increase our planned capital expenditures by over $500 million per year. Conversely, if we elect to forego all available CAF Phase 2 funding, we will continue to receive approximately $345 million in federal USF high-cost support subsidies in 2015 and at least a portion of 2016, but the program’s impact on us beyond 2016 would depend on the extent to which we would participate and prevail in the future auctions described above. If we ultimately receive no CAF Phase 2 funding (either through elections not to participate in the program or failures to prevail at the future auctions), we anticipate forfeiting following such future auctions a substantial portion of the approximately $345 million of USF high-cost support funds that we expect to receive in 2015. These forfeitures would have a material adverse impact on our cash flows.

Historically, we have recognized the full amount of our annual federal USF high-cost support payments as revenue in the year received. We are still in the process of determining how to recognize funds that may be received under CAF Phase 2, but because of differences inherent in the CAF Phase 2 process, we will likely defer the recognition of CAF Phase 2 funding until specific CAF Phase 2 deployment projects are completed. This potential difference in accounting treatment could materially reduce our revenue beginning at the date, on or before August 27, 2015, when we formally elect to receive any CAF Phase 2 funds. Participating in this CAF phase 2 program would likely generate incremental broadband subscribers and revenue which, however, would not occur until the network build is complete and service is available at the required broadband speeds.

As of the date of filing of this report, we have not yet decided whether to accept or reject any specific build-out opportunities and related CAF support payments available to us under the Phase 2 program. We continue to evaluate our options with respect to the opportunities afforded to us under the FCC’s CAF Phase 2 program, including assessing whether our projected return on capital warrants pursuing these opportunities in our various markets. Although we cannot determine at this point the ultimate impact of the implementation of the FCC’s CAF Phase 2 program on us, it could have a material impact on our revenues, expenses and cash flows.

In 2013, under the second round of the first phase of the CAF program, we received $40 million in funding for deployment of broadband services in rural areas. The recently issued CAF Phase 2 program overlaps certain eligible areas of the second round funding, and we are currently unable to determine how much of the $40 million in funding we will utilize or return to the FCC. The $40 million of CAF second round of the first phase funding is included in other noncurrent liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2015.

For additional information, see "Business—Regulation" in Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 .

Historical Information

The following table summarizes our consolidated cash flow activities:



	Three Months Ended March 31,					Increase / (Decrease)
	2015			2014		Increase / (Decrease)
	(Dollars in millions)
Net cash provided by operating activities	$	1,336		1,380		(44	)
Net cash used in investing activities	(610		)	(682	)	(72	)
Net cash used in financing activities	(699		)	(647	)	52

Net cash provided by operating activities decreased by $44 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to a decrease in net income adjusted for non-cash items and negative variances in the changes in accounts receivable and accounts payable. These decreases were substantially offset by a positive variance in other current assets and liabilities, net, which was primarily due to a payment of approximately $235 million in the first quarter of 2014 to settle certain litigation. For additional information about our operating results, see "Results of Operations" above.

Net cash used in investing activities decreased by $72 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to a decrease in payments for property, plant and equipment and capitalized software.

Net cash used in financing activities increased by $52 million for the three months ended March 31, 2015 as compared to the three months ended March 31, 2014 primarily due to an increase in net debt paydowns, which were partially offset by a reduction in common stock repurchases.

On March 19, 2015, we issued $500 million aggregate principal amount of 5.625% Notes due 2025, in exchange for net proceeds, after deducting underwriting discounts and other expenses, of approximately $494 million. The Notes are senior unsecured obligations and may be redeemed, in whole or in part, at any time before January 1, 2025 at a redemption price equal to the greater of 100% of the principal amount of the Notes or the sum of the present value of the remaining scheduled payments of principal and interest on the Notes, discounted to the redemption date in the manner described in the Notes, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. At any time on or after January 1, 2025, we may redeem the Notes at par plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date. In addition, at any time on or prior to April 1, 2018, we may redeem up to 35% of the principal amount of the Notes at a redemption price equal to 105.625% of the principal amount thereof, plus accrued and unpaid interest to the redemption date, with net cash proceeds of certain equity offerings. Under certain circumstances, we 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 February 20, 2015, QC entered into a term loan in the amount of $100 million with CoBank, ACB. The outstanding unpaid principal amount of this term loan plus any accrued and unpaid interest is due on February 20, 2025, the maturity date of the loan. Interest is paid quarterly based upon either the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) or the base rate (as defined in the credit agreement) plus an applicable margin between 1.50% to 2.50% per annum for LIBOR loans and 0.50% to 1.50% per annum for base rate loans depending on QC's then current senior unsecured long-term debt rating. As of March 31, 2015, the outstanding principle balance on this term loan was $100 million.

On February 17, 2015, CenturyLink paid at maturity the $350 million principal plus accrued and unpaid interest due under its series M 5.000% Notes.

Certain Matters Related to Acquisitions

When we acquired Qwest and Savvis in 2011, Qwest's pre-acquisition debt obligations consisted primarily of debt securities issued by QCII and two of its subsidiaries while Savvis' long-term debt obligations (after the discharge of its convertible senior notes in connection with the completion of the acquisition) consisted primarily of capital leases, the remaining outstanding portions of which are all now included in our consolidated debt balances. The indentures governing Qwest's remaining debt securities contain customary covenants that restrict the ability of Qwest or its subsidiaries from making certain payments and investments, granting liens and selling or transferring assets. Based on current circumstances, we do not anticipate that these covenants will significantly restrict our ability to manage cash balances or transfer cash between entities within our consolidated group of companies as needed.

In accounting for the Qwest acquisition, we recorded Qwest's debt securities at their estimated fair values, which totaled $12.292 billion as of April 1, 2011. Our acquisition date fair value estimates were based primarily on quoted market prices in active markets and other observable inputs where quoted market prices were not available. The fair value of Qwest's debt securities exceeded their stated principal balances on the acquisition date by $693 million , which we recorded as a premium.

The table below summarizes the portions of this premium recognized as a reduction to interest expense or extinguished during the periods indicated:



	Three Months Ended March 31, 2015		From April 1, 2011 through December 31, 2014	Total Since Acquisition
	(Dollars in millions)
Amortized	$	6	344	350
Extinguished ⁽¹⁾	—		276	276
Total	$	6	620	626

______________________________________________________________________


⁽¹⁾	Extinguished in connection with the payment of Qwest debt securities prior to maturity.

The remaining premium of $67 million as of March 31, 2015 , will reduce interest expense in future periods, unless otherwise extinguished.

Other Matters

In late February 2015, the FCC adopted new regulations that regulate internet services as a public utility under Title II of the Communications Act. Although it is premature for us to determine the ultimate impact of the new regulations on our operations, we currently expect that they will negatively impact our current 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 have a material adverse effect on 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.

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 March 31, 2015 , 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 in which our international subsidiaries operate in currencies other than the U.S. Dollar, primarily the British Pound, 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.

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 presented above if market conditions vary from the assumptions used in the analyses performed. These analyses only incorporate the risk exposures that existed at March 31, 2015 .

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 15—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, 2014 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 SEC.

Certain of the industry and market data (such as the size of certain markets and our position within these markets) used throughout this report are based on independent industry publications, government publications, reports by market research firms or other published independent sources. Some market data and statistical information are also based on our good faith estimates, which are derived from our review of internal surveys, as well as the independent sources listed above. This information may prove to be inaccurate because of the method by which we obtain some of the data for our estimates or because this information cannot always be verified with certainty due to the limits on the availability and reliability of raw data, the voluntary nature of the data gathering process and other limitations and uncertainties. As a result, although we believe these sources are reliable, we have not independently verified the information and cannot guarantee its accuracy and completeness.

In addition to historical information, this MD&A 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 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 timing, success and overall effects of competition from a wide variety of competitive providers; the risks inherent in rapid technological change, including product displacement; the effects of ongoing changes in the regulation of the communications industry (including the outcome of regulatory or judicial proceedings relating to intercarrier compensation, 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; our ability to effectively manage our expansion opportunities, including retaining and hiring key personnel; 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 services; our ability to successfully introduce new product or service offerings on a timely and cost-effective basis; the adverse impact on our business and network from possible equipment failures, security breaches or similar attacks on our network; our ability to successfully negotiate collective bargaining agreements on reasonable terms without work stoppages; our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards in projected amounts; our continued access to credit markets on favorable terms; our ability to collect our receivables from financially troubled companies; our ability to maintain favorable relations with our key business partners, suppliers, vendors, landlords and financial institutions; any adverse developments in legal or regulatory proceedings involving us; changes in our operating plans, corporate strategies, dividend payment plans or other capital allocation plans, including those caused by changes in our cash requirements, capital expenditure needs, debt obligations, pension funding requirements, cash flows, or financial position, or other similar changes; the effects of adverse weather; other risks referenced in this report (including in "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of Part II of this report) or from time to time in other of our filings with the SEC; and the effects of more general factors such as changes in interest rates, in tax rates, in accounting policies or practices, in operating, medical, pension or administrative costs, in general market, labor or economic conditions, or in legislation, regulation or public policy. These and other uncertainties related to our business and our recent acquisitions are described in greater detail in Item 1A of Part I of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 , as updated and supplemented by our subsequent SEC reports, including this report. 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 on our forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to 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, the existing regulatory and technological environment, industry and competitive conditions, and 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

Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

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.

Our Chief Executive Officer, Glen F. Post, III, and our Chief Financial Officer, R. Stewart Ewing, Jr., have evaluated the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the "Exchange Act") at March 31, 2015 . Based on the evaluation, Messrs. Post and Ewing concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are designed, and are effective, to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file under the Exchange Act is timely recorded, processed, summarized and reported and to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including Messrs. Post and Ewing, in a manner that allows timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the first quarter of 2015 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 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.

Various developments have caused us to continue to lose access lines, and for each of our product and service offerings to experience increased competitive pressures. We expect these trends will continue. In addition to competition from larger national telecommunications providers, we are facing increasing competition from a variety of 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.

Some of our current and potential competitors (i) offer products or services that are substitutes for our traditional 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) have market presence, engineering and technical capabilities, and financial and other resources greater than ours, (v) have larger operations than us, including larger or more diverse networks with greater transmission capacity or more or larger data centers, (vi) conduct operations or raise capital at a lower cost than us, (vii) are subject to less regulation, (viii) offer services nationally or internationally to a larger geographic area or larger base of customers, or (ix) have substantially stronger brand names. 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 infrastructures 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, or to provide more comprehensive customer service. 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 require substantial expenditure of financial and other resources in excess of contemplated levels, and any inability to respond to those changes could reduce our market share and adversely affect our operating results and financial condition.

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 traditional 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, collocation 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 the service’s broadband speed and decrease its cost. To enhance the competitiveness of our broadband services, we may 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 technological trends or the success of newly-offered services. Further technological change could 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.

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 and private line 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 in recent years experienced a decline in access lines, long distance revenues and network access revenues, which continue to place downward pressure on our revenues generated from legacy services and our consolidated cash flows.

We have taken a variety of steps to counter these declines, 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 provided by our hosting operations and IT services.

However, most of these strategic services generate lower profit margins than our traditional services, and some can be expected to experience slowing growth as increasing numbers of our existing or potential customers subscribe to these newer products. Moreover, we cannot assure you that the revenues generated from our new offerings will offset revenue losses associated from reduced sales of our legacy products. 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, risk tolerances, 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 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.

To be successful, we will need to continue providing our customers with high-capacity, reliable and secure networks and data hosting centers. We face the risk, as does any company, of a security breach or significant disruption of our information technology infrastructure and related systems (including our billing 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 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 or classified 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 these types of information and systems 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 target of cyber-attacks of varying degrees on a regular basis. 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, 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 and infrastructure include:


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


•	capacity or system configuration limitations, including those resulting from certain incompatibilities between our newer and older systems;


•	software or hardware obsolescence, defects or malfunctions;


•	programming, processing and other human error; and


•	other disruptions that are beyond our control.

Network disruptions, security breaches and other significant failures of the above-described systems could:


•	disrupt the proper functioning of these networks and systems and therefore our operations or those of certain of our customers;


•	result in the unauthorized access to, and destruction, loss, theft, misappropriation or release of proprietary, confidential, sensitive 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 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;


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


•	require us to offer expensive incentives to retain existing customers or subject us to claims for contract breach, damages, credits, fines, penalties, termination or other remedies, particularly with respect to service standards set by state regulatory commissions; 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 litigation.

Likewise, our ability to expand and update our systems and information technology infrastructure in response to our growth and changing needs is important to the continued implementation of our new service offering initiatives. As discussed further under “Business—Network Architecture” in Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 , 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. Our failure to modernize and upgrade our technology infrastructure could have adverse consequences, which could include the delayed implementation of new service offerings, decreased competitiveness of existing service offerings, increased 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 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, financial condition or results of operations.

Our future results will suffer if we do not effectively adjust to changes in our business, and will further suffer if we do not effectively manage our expanded operations.

The above-described changes in our industry have placed a higher premium on technological, engineering, product development, marketing and provisioning skills. Our recent acquisitions also significantly changed the composition of our markets and product mix. Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to retrain our staff to acquire or strengthen skills necessary to address these changes, and, where necessary, to attract and retain new personnel that possess these skills. Given the current competitive market for personnel with these skills, we cannot assure you that these recruitment efforts 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 and peer-to-peer file sharing applications use significantly more bandwidth than traditional Internet activity such as web browsing and email. As use of these newer services continues to grow, our high-speed Internet 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 high-speed Internet 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 practices, results of operations, and financial condition.

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 patent, copyright, 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, infringe upon, or diminish the value of our proprietary rights. Enforcement of our intellectual property rights may also 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.

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” 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 sell 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) consultants to assist us in connection with our network consolidation initiatives. In the event it becomes necessary to seek alternative suppliers and vendors, we may be unable to obtain satisfactory replacement supplies, services, space, 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." Pending changes in the federal Universal Service support program will likely change the way we recognize and report future funds received from federal USF as the FCC's CAF Phase 2 program is implemented. 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 several 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 has risen significantly in recent years and continues 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 viewed and delivered as consumers seek more control over when, where and how they consume content, which may have a negative impact on our satellite TV services and our Prism TV services. Increased access to various media through wireless devices has the potential to reduce the viewing of our content through traditional distribution outlets, which could adversely affect the demand for our video services. 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. These changes, coupled with changing consumer preferences and other related developments, could reduce the profitability or demand for our video products and services.

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 March 31, 2015 , approximately 36% 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 and we typically negotiate the terms of new bargaining 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, the 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 their respective properties. If any of these authorizations terminate or lapse, our operations could be adversely affected.

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 foreign operations are subject to varying degrees of regulation in each of the foreign jurisdictions in which we provide services. Local laws and regulations, and their interpretation and enforcement, differ significantly among those jurisdictions, and can change significantly over time. Regulations that require the awarding of contracts to local contractors or the employment of local citizens could potentially adversely affect our operations in these jurisdictions. Future regulatory, judicial and legislative changes or interpretations may have a material adverse effect on our ability to deliver services within various foreign jurisdictions.

Many of these foreign laws and regulations relating to communications services are more restrictive than U.S. laws and regulations, particularly those relating to content distributed over the Internet. For example, the European Union has enacted a data retention system that, once implemented by individual member states, will involve requirements to retain certain Internet protocol, or IP, data that could have an impact on our operations in Europe. 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;


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


•	longer payment cycles and problems collecting accounts receivable;


•	additional U.S. and other regulation of non-domestic 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 restrictions and exchange rate fluctuations;


•	the ability to secure and maintain 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;


•	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.

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 depend on key members of our senior management team.

Our success depends largely on the skills, experience and performance of a limited number of senior officers. Competition for senior management in our industry is intense and we may have difficulty retaining our current senior officers or attracting new ones in the event of terminations or resignations. For a discussion of similar retention concerns relating to our recent acquisitions, please see the risks described below under the heading “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to our Recent Acquisitions.”

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

Historically, much of our growth has been attributable to acquisitions, including our purchases over the last couple of years of several businesses primarily to augment our hosting services. These acquisitions involved the combination of companies which previously operated as independent companies. We have devoted, and will continue to devote, significant management attention and resources to integrating the business practices and operations of CenturyLink and the acquired companies. We may encounter difficulties in the integration process, including the following


•	the inability to successfully combine our businesses in the manner contemplated, either due to technological or staffing challenges or otherwise, any of which could increase our acquisition integration costs or result in the anticipated benefits of the acquisitions not being realized partly or wholly in the time frame anticipated or at all;


•	the inability to successfully integrate the separate product development and service delivery processes of each of the companies, including delays or limitations in connection with offering existing or new products or services arising out of the multiplicity of different legacy systems, networks and processes used by each of the companies;


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


•	the difficulties of producing combined financial information concerning a larger, more complex organization using dispersed personnel with different past practices and disparate billing systems, including the attendant risk of errors;


•	the complexities of combining companies with different histories, regulatory restrictions, cost structures, products, sales forces, markets, marketing strategies, and customer bases;


•	the failure to retain key employees, some of whom could be critical to integrating, operating or expanding the companies;


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


•	performance shortfalls at one or all of the companies as a result of the diversion of management’s attention caused by integrating the companies’ operations.

For all these reasons, 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 recent 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 the 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 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 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 recently suffered substantial budget cuts with the prospect of additional future budget cuts. 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 Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 .

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 often 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.

Regulation of the telecommunications industry continues to change rapidly, and the regulatory environment varies substantially from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Notwithstanding a recent movement towards alternative regulation, 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 federal regulation . In October 2011, the FCC adopted the Connect America and Intercarrier Compensation Reform order (“the 2011 order”) intended to reform the existing regulatory regime to recognize ongoing shifts to new technologies, including VoIP, and re-direct federal universal service funding to foster nationwide broadband coverage. This initial ruling 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 substantially increased the pace of reductions in the amount of switched access revenues we receive in our wholesale business. Moreover, regardless of whether and the degree to which we elect to participate in the FCC's CAF Phase 2 program, we anticipate our financial results will be significantly impacted in the coming years. For more information, see "Business Regulation" in Item 1 of Part I of our Annual Report Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Item 2 of Part I of this report.

Several judicial challenges to the CAF 2011 order are pending and additional future challenges are possible, any of which could alter or delay the FCC’s proposed changes. In addition, based on the outcome of the FCC proceedings, various state commissions may consider changes to their universal service funds or intrastate access rates. 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 (i) broadband stimulus projects, support funds and similar plans and (ii) various broadband and internet regulation initiatives including “network neutrality” regulations, as discussed further below. The FCC is also, among other things, considering changes in the regulation of special access services. 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.

Risks of higher costs . Regulations continue to create significant 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 deployment, handling of broadband traffic, bolstering homeland security or cyber security, increasing disaster recovery requirements, minimizing environmental impacts, enhancing privacy, restricting data collection or storage, protecting intellectual property rights of third parties, or addressing other issues that impact our business, including 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 laws governing local number portability and customer proprietary network information requirements. 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 increase our energy costs, the profitability of our hosting and other operations could be adversely affected.

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, our management, discharge or disposal of hazardous and environmentally sensitive materials might expose us to claims or actions that could 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."

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

In order to continue to provide quality high-speed data 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 late February 2015, the FCC adopted new regulations that regulate internet services as a public utility under Title II of the Communications Act. The new regulations are subject to pending judicial challenges. 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. 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 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.

We may be required to obtain from municipal authorities operating franchises to install or expand facilities. Some of these franchises may require us to pay franchise fees. These franchising requirements generally apply to our fiber transport and competitive local exchange carrier operations, and to our facilities-based video services. These 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 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.

Risks Affecting Our Liquidity and Capital Resources

Our high debt levels pose risks to our viability and may make us more vulnerable to adverse economic and competitive conditions, as well as other adverse developments.

We continue to carry significant debt. As of March 31, 2015 , our consolidated long-term debt was approximately $20.5 billion . Approximately $3.0 billion of our consolidated debt, excluding capital lease and other obligations, matures over the 36 months ending March 31, 2018.

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


•	limiting the ability of CenturyLink and its subsidiaries to access the capital markets;


•	exposing CenturyLink and its subsidiaries to the risk of credit rating downgrades, as described further below;


•	hindering our flexibility to plan for or react to changing market, industry or economic conditions;


•	limiting the amount of cash flow available for future operations, acquisitions, strategic initiatives, dividends, stock repurchases or other uses;


•	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 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, 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. Prevailing market conditions could be adversely affected by disruptions in domestic or overseas sovereign or corporate debt markets, contractions or limited growth in the economy or other similar adverse economic developments in the U.S. or abroad. Instability in the global financial markets has from time to time resulted in periodic volatility in the capital markets. This volatility 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 benefitted, 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 taxes increase faster or in greater amounts than currently anticipated; or


•	we become subject to significant judgments or settlements in 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 payment 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 the 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 our long-term debt and the long-term debt of several of our 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, 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 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 have 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 to the extent the FCC requires higher minimum transmission speeds to qualify as "broadband service", 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. Although we have successfully reduced certain of our operating expenses over the past few years, we may be unable to further 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, 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, Universal Service support payments, 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, 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 our current repurchase plan 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 will depend more than it otherwise would on our ability to obtain third party financing. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available to us at terms that are as favorable as those from which we previously benefited, at terms that are acceptable to us, or at all.

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

At December 31, 2014 , we had approximately $1.6 billion of federal net operating losses, or NOLs, which relate primarily to pre-acquisition losses of Qwest. Under certain circumstances, these NOLs can be used to offset our future federal taxable income. Additionally, we had state NOLs of $12 billion, which we believe have a gross tax benefit of $528 million.

The acquisitions of Qwest, Savvis and other corporations caused “ownership changes” under federal tax laws relating to the post-acquisition use of NOLs and other federal tax attributes. As a result, these laws could limit our ability to use the federal NOLs 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. Despite this, we expect, based on current laws and circumstances, to use a substantial portion of these federal NOLs and other federal tax attributes to reduce our federal tax liability in 2015.

A significant portion of the state NOLs 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 NOLs will be limited by state laws related to ownership changes. As a result, we do not expect to utilize a large portion of the state NOLs, and consequently have established an allowance against the state NOLs in the amount of $312 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 45,000 employees, and approximately 67,000 pension retirees and approximately 24,000 former employees with vested benefits participating in our benefit plans as of December 31, 2014 , 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 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;


•	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.

As of December 31, 2014 , 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 Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 . 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.

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

As noted in the foregoing risk factor disclosures, changes in competition, technology, regulation and demand for our legacy services continue to place downward pressure on our consolidated cash flows. We rely upon these cash flows to partially or wholly fund several of our commitments and business objectives, including without limitation funding our capital expenditures, operating costs, share repurchases, dividends, pension funding payments, and debt repayments. We cannot assure you that our future cash flows will be sufficient to fund all of our cash requirements in the manner currently contemplated, especially after we deplete our current net operating loss carryforwards. Our inability to fund certain of these payments could have an adverse impact on our business, operations, competitive position, or the value of our stock.

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 hurricane and other natural disaster risks, 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 plant (excluding our 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 hurricanes and natural disasters have historically been recoverable. We cannot predict whether we will continue to be able to obtain insurance for 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 and to provide for premium adjustments based on claims. Moreover, we do not carry insurance against all types of losses. For instance, we are not insured for loss of use of all our outside plant, business interruption or terrorism. 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 Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014 , 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.

We have a significant amount of goodwill, customer relationships and other intangible assets on our consolidated balance sheet. 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 March 31, 2015 , 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 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

In February 2014, our Board of Directors authorized a 24 -month program to repurchase up to an aggregate of $1 billion of our outstanding common stock. This program took effect on May 29, 2014, immediately upon the completion of our predecessor 2013 repurchase program. During the three months ended March 31, 2015 , we repurchased approximately 4.5 million shares of our outstanding common stock in the open market (excluding common shares that, as of March 31, 2015, we had agreed to purchase under the program for an aggregate of $9 million in transactions that settled early in the second quarter of 2015). These shares were repurchased for an aggregate market price of $170 million or an average purchase price of $37.53 per share. The common stock repurchased has been retired. For additional information, see Note 10—Repurchase of CenturyLink Common Stock to our consolidated financial statements included in Item 1 of Part I of this report.

The following table contains information about shares of our previously-issued common stock that were repurchased under our current 24-month Stock Repurchase Program:



	Total Number of Shares Purchased	Average Price Paid Per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plans or Programs	Approximate Dollar Value of Shares That May Yet Be Purchased Under the Plans or Programs
Period
January 2015	1,457,420	$	38.93	1,457,420	$	743,281,109
February 2015	1,375,708	38.47		1,375,708	690,357,176
March 2015	1,686,369	35.56		1,686,369	630,385,722
Total	4,519,497	37.53		4,519,497

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 first quarter of 2015 to satisfy the related minimum tax withholding obligations:



	Total Number of Shares Withheld for Taxes	Average Price Paid Per Share
Period
January 2015	48,927	$	38.56
February 2015	50,686	37.11
March 2015	332,148	34.41
Total	431,761

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 26, 2008, by and among CenturyLink, Inc., Embarq Corporation and Cajun Acquisition Company (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 99.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 30, 2008).
2.2	Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of April 21, 2010, by and among CenturyLink, Inc., its subsidiary SB44 Acquisition Company, and Qwest Communications International Inc. (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 April 27, 2010).
2.3	Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of April 26, 2011, by and among CenturyLink, Inc., SAVVIS, Inc. and Mimi Acquisition Company (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 April 27, 2011).
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.*

_______________________________________________________________________________

⁽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.



Exhibit Number	Description
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).
		(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.	Third Supplemental Indenture, dated as of February 14, 2005, by and between CenturyTel, Inc. (currently named CenturyLink, Inc.) and Regions Bank, as Trustee, designating and outlining the terms and conditions of CenturyLink's 5% Senior Notes, Series M, due 2015 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 000-50260) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 15, 2005).
		(i).	Form of 5% Senior Notes, Series M, due 2015 (incorporated by reference to Exhibit A to Exhibit 4.1 of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 000-50260) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on February 15, 2005).
	c.	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).
	d.	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).
	e.	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).
	f.	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).
_______________________________________________________________________________ ⁽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.



Exhibit Number	Description
	g.	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).
	h.	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).
	i.	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).
		(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).
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).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(i).	First Supplemental Indenture, dated as of August 19, 2004, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.22 of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2004 (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 5, 2004).
		(ii).	Third Supplemental Indenture, dated as of June 17, 2005, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 of Qwest Communications International Inc.'s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-15577) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 23, 2005).
		(iii).	Fourth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of August 8, 2006, 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 August 8, 2006).
		(iv).	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).
		(v).	Sixth Supplemental Indenture, dated as of April 13, 2009, 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 April 13, 2009).
		(vi).	Seventh Supplemental Indenture, dated as of June 8, 2011, by and between Qwest Corporation and U.S. Bank National Association (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.8 of Qwest Corporation's Form 8-A (File No. 001-03040) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 7, 2011).
		(vii).	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).
		(viii).	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).
		(ix)	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).
		(x)	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).
		(xi)	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).
		(xii)	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).
	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.	7.082% Global Note due 2016 of Embarq Corporation (incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 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).



Exhibit Number	Description
	c.	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).
	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).



Exhibit Number	Description
	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).
	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).



Exhibit Number	Description
	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).
		(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).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(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).
		(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).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(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).
		(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).



Exhibit Number	Description
		(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 (incorporated by reference to Appendix B of CenturyLink, Inc.'s Proxy Statement for its 2011 Annual Meeting of Shareholders (File No. 001-07784) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 6, 2011).
		(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).
		(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	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) with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 1, 2009).



Exhibit Number	Description
10.8	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).
10.9	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).
10.10	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).
10.11	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.)
10.12	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).
10.13	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) 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).



Exhibit Number	Description
	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).
10.14	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).
	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.



Exhibit Number	Description
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 March 31, 2015, 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.


Note:	Our Corporate Governance Guidelines and Charters of our Board of Director Committees are located on our website at www.centurylink.com.

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 May 6, 2015 .



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

Exhibit 4.3a

FIRST AMENDMENT

FIRST AMENDMENT, dated as of March 13, 2015 (this “ First Amendment ”), to that certain CREDIT AGREEMENT, dated as of April 18, 2012, (as amended, restated, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time, the “ Existing Credit Agreement ” and as amended hereby, the “ Credit Agreement ”) among CENTURYLINK, INC., a Louisiana

corporation (the “ Borrower ”), the several banks and other financial institutions or entities from time to time parties thereto (the “ Existing Lenders ”) and COBANK, ACB, as administrative

agent (in such capacity, the “ Administrative Agent ”).

W I T N E S S E T H :

WHEREAS, the Borrower, the Existing Lenders and the Administrative Agent have entered into the Existing Credit Agreement pursuant to which the Existing Lenders have agreed to make, and have made, certain loans to the Borrower;

WHEREAS, the Borrower has requested that the Existing Credit Agreement be amended in its entirety to, among other things, (i) reduce the stated rates of interest for Loans

and (ii) make certain other modifications as set forth herein;

WHEREAS, Section 10.14 of the Existing Credit Agreement permits (i) the Borrower and the Administrative Agent to amend the Credit Agreement to reduce the stated rate

of any interest with the written consent of each Lender and Voting Participant directly affected thereby (such Lender and Voting Participant providing such consent, a “ Consenting Lender ”)

and (ii) the Borrower to amend the Credit Agreement with the written consent of the Administrative Agent and the Majority Lenders;

WHEREAS, concurrently with the execution of this amendment, Section 2.21(b) of the Credit Agreement shall be amended to permit the Borrower to replace any Existing Lender

that does not consent to any proposed amendment of any provision of the Existing Credit Agreement that requires the consent of each of the Existing Lenders affected thereby, so long as the consent of the Majority Lenders has been obtained;

WHEREAS, the Borrower, the Administrative Agent and each Consenting Lender are willing to agree to this First Amendment and the Credit Agreement on the terms set forth herein.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the mutual promises and agreements herein contained, the parties hereto hereby agree as follows:

SECTION 1. Defined Terms . Unless otherwise defined herein, terms defined in the Credit Agreement and used herein shall have the meanings given to them in the Credit Agreement.

SECTION 2. Amendments .

(a) Existing Credit Agreement . The Existing Credit Agreement is hereby amended in accordance with Exhibit A hereto by deleting the stricken text (indicated textually in the same manner as the following example: stricken text ) and by inserting the double-underlined text (indicated textually in the same manner as the following example: double-underlined text ),

in each case in the place where such text appears therein. After giving effect to this First Amendment, the Credit Agreement shall read as set forth in Exhibit A hereto.

(b) Schedules . Schedules 3.3 and 10.18 of the Existing Credit Agreement are hereby amended by deleting Schedules 3.3 and 10.18 in their entirety and substituting in lieu thereof the new Schedules 3.3 and 10.18 attached as Exhibit B hereto.

(c) Exhibits . Exhibit G to the Existing Credit Agreement is hereby amended by deleting Exhibit G in its entirety and substituting in lieu thereof the new Exhibit G attached as Exhibit C hereto.

SECTION 3. Conditions to Effectiveness . The effectiveness of this First Amendment and the amendment of the Existing Credit Agreement as provided for herein are subject to the satisfaction of the following conditions (the date on which such conditions are satisfied, the “ First Amendment Effective Date ”):

(a) Execution of First Amendment . On or prior to the First Amendment Effective Date, the Borrower, each Consenting Lender and the Administrative Agent, shall have signed a counterpart hereof (whether the same or different counterparts) and shall have delivered the same to the Administrative Agent.

(b) Opinions of Counsel . On the First Amendment Effective Date, the Administrative Agent shall have received favorable written opinions from (i) Jones Walker LLP, special counsel to the Borrower, (ii) Stacey W. Goff, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of the Borrower, (iii) Arthur J. Saltarelli, Senior Associate General Counsel of the Borrower concerning QSC and (iv) Nancy Shelledy, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of SCC concerning SCC, in each case covering such matters incident to the transactions contemplated herein as the Administrative Agent may reasonably request.

(c) Secretary’s Certificates . The Administrative Agent shall have received a certificate dated as of the First Amendment Effective Date, substantially in the form of Exhibit F to the Credit Agreement, executed and delivered by each Loan Party, certifying that (i) such Loan Party’s charter and by-laws as in effect on the First Amendment Effective Date have been previously delivered to the Administrative Agent and have not been modified or amended (or if such documents have been modified or amended, such Loan Party shall attach a true, correct, and complete copy of such modified or amended documents, certified by the appropriate state official, if applicable, and dated as of a recent date), (ii) resolutions of each Loan Party’s board

of directors have been adopted authorizing the execution and delivery of this First Amendment and the Amendment to Guarantee Agreement and Reaffirmation Agreement (the “ Reaffirmation Agreement ”), as applicable, and (iii) each of the officers whose specimen signature appears on such certificate holds the corporate office indicated and is authorized to sign agreements, documents and instruments on behalf of each respective Loan Party.

(d) Good Standing . The Administrative Agent shall have received a certificate (dated as of a recent date) relating to the existence and good standing of each Loan Party issued by appropriate state officials.

(e) Office r’s Certificate . The Administrative Agent shall have received a certificate dated as of the First Amendment Effective Date, confirming compliance, as of the First Amendment Effective Date, with the conditions set forth in clauses (a) and (b) of Section 1. of the Credit Agreement.

(f) Solvency Certificate . The Administrative Agent shall have received a certificate dated as of the First Amendment Effective Date from the chief financial officer of the Borrower certifying that the Borrower is, and after giving effect to the amendments contemplated hereunder, shall be and shall continue to be, Solvent.

(g) Patriot Act . The Administrative Agent shall have received, with respect to such documents and other information requested in writing at least five business days prior to the First Amendment Effective Date, all documentation and other information required by regulatory authorities under applicable “know your customer” and anti-money laundering rules and regulations, including the Patriot Act.

(h) Fees, etc . All costs, fees and expenses and all other costs contemplated by this First Amendment, due to the Administrative Agent and the Lenders (including, without limitation, reasonable and documented legal fees and expenses pursuant to Section 6 hereof) shall have been paid to the extent then due. All fees due to the Administrative Agent and the Lenders as of the First Amendment Effective Date shall have been paid.

(i) Financial Statements . The Administrative Agent and the Lenders shall have received audited consolidated financial statements of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries for the 2012, 2013 and 2014 fiscal years and interim unaudited financial statement for each quarterly period ended since the end of the 2014 fiscal year.

(j) Reaffirmation Agreement . On the First Amendment Effective Date, the Borrower shall have delivered to the Administrative Agent the Reaffirmation Agreement, substantially in the form of Exhibit D hereto, executed and delivered by each Guarantor, which shall be in full force and effect.

(k) Representations and Warranties . Each of the representations and warranties of the Borrower set forth in Section 4 of the Existing Credit Agreement (including, for the avoidance of doubt, the representations set forth in Sections 3.4(b) and 3.6) is true and correct in all material respects (except to the extent such representation and warranty is qualified by materiality, in which case such representation and warranty shall be true and correct in all respects).

SECTION 4. Representations and Warranties . The Borrower hereby represents and warrants that (immediately before and after giving effect to this First Amendment):

(a) Each of the representations and warranties of the Borrower set forth in Section 3 of the Existing Credit Agreement (including, for the avoidance of doubt, the representations set forth in Sections 3.4(b) and 3.6) is true and correct in all material respects

(except to the extent such representation and warranty is qualified by materiality, in which case such representation and warranty shall be true and correct in all respects); provided that: (i) for purposes of Section 3(k) and this Section 4(a), (A) the definition of “Current Financials” shall mean “the consolidated Financial Statements of the Companies for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014” and (B) the reference to “Closing Date” in 3.4(b) shall mean “the First Amendment Effective Date”; and (ii) any Schedules attached to this First Amendment shall replace the Schedules attached to the Existing Credit Agreement solely for purposes of Section 3(k) and this Section 4(a).


(b)	No Default or Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing.

SECTION 5. Payment of Expenses . The Borrower agrees to pay or reimburse the Administrative Agent and the Lenders (without duplication) for all of their reasonable and documented out-of-pocket costs and expenses incurred in connection with this First Amendment, any other documents prepared in connection herewith and the transactions contemplated hereby, including, without limitation, the reasonable fees and disbursements of counsel to the Administrative Agent.

SECTION 6. No Other Amendment or Waivers .

(a) The parties hereto acknowledge and agree that, except as expressly amended hereby, all of the terms and provisions of the Existing Credit Agreement are and shall remain in full force and effect. This Amendment shall not constitute an amendment or waiver of any other provision of the Existing Credit Agreement not referred to herein and shall not be construed as a waiver, amendment or consent to any further or future action on the part of the Borrower that would require a waiver, amendment or consent of the Administrative Agent, the Lenders or the Voting Participants.

(b) On and after the First Amendment Effective Date, each reference in the Credit Agreement to “this Agreement”, “hereunder”, “hereof”, “herein”, or words of like import, and each reference to the Existing Credit Agreement in any other Loan Paper shall be deemed a reference to the Credit Agreement. This First Amendment shall constitute a “Loan Paper” for all purposes of the Credit Agreement and the other Loan Papers (as defined in the Credit Agreement).

(c) Although the Existing Credit Agreement shall continue to be effective as of the Closing Date, all amendments to the Existing Credit Agreement, as reflected on Exhibit A, shall be effective as of the First Amendment Effective Date.

SECTION 7. GOVERNING LAW; WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL . THIS FIRST AMENDMENT AND THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE PARTIES UNDER THIS FIRST AMENDMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY, AND CONSTRUED AND INTERPRETED IN ACCORDANCE WITH, THE LAW OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. EACH PARTY HERETO HEREBY AGREES TO WAIVE TRIAL BY JURY AS SET FORTH IN SECTION 11.11 OF THE EXISTING CREDIT AGREEMENT AS IF SUCH SECTION WERE SET FORTH IN FULL HEREIN MUTATIS MUTANDIS .

SECTION 8. Miscellaneous . (a) This First Amendment may be executed by one or more of the parties to this First Amendment on any number of separate counterparts, and all of said counterparts taken together shall be deemed to constitute one and the same instrument.

Delivery of an executed signature page of this First Amendment by email or facsimile transmission shall be effective as delivery of an original executed counterpart hereof.

(b) The provisions of this First Amendment shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and assigns permitted under the Credit Agreement.

SECTION 9. Severability . Any provision of this First Amendment that is prohibited or unenforceable in any jurisdiction shall, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or unenforceability without invalidating the remaining provisions hereof, and any such prohibition or unenforceability in any jurisdiction shall not invalidate or render unenforceable such provision in any other jurisdiction.

SECTION 10. Headings . The headings, captions, and arrangements used in this First Amendment are, unless specified otherwise, for convenience only and shall not be deemed to limit, amplify, or modify the terms of this First Amendment, nor affect the meaning thereof.

[ Signature Pages Follow ]

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this First Amendment

to be duly executed and delivered by their respective proper and duly authorized officers as of

the day and year first above written.

CENTURYLINK, INC., as Borrower

By: /s/ R. Stewart Ewing, Jr.

Name: R. Stewart Ewing, Jr.

Title: Executive Vice President, Chief

Financial Officer and Assistant

Secretary

Signature Page to First Amendment

Acknowledged and Agreed:

COBANK, ACB,

as Administrative Agent

By: /s/ Thomas Meyer

Name: Thomas Meyer

Title: Vice President

Signature Page to First Amendment

COBANK, ACB, as a Lender

By: /s/ Thomas Meyer

Name: Thomas Meyer

Title: Vice President

Signature Page to First Amendment

[Remaining signature pages intentionally omitted]

EXHIBIT A

[Redlined Credit Agreement]

EX HIBIT A

EXECUTION VERSION

$440,000,000

CREDIT AGREEMENT

Dated as of

April 18, 2012

among

CENTURYLINK, INC.,

THE LENDERS NAMED HEREIN,

COBANK, ACB,

as Administrative Agent,

COBANK, ACB,

as Sole Bookrunner and Sole Lead Arranger

As amended by the First Amendment, dated as of March 13, 2015

Table of Contents

Page



SECTION 1	DEFINITIONS	1
1.1	Certain Defined Terms	1
1.2	Accounting Principles	22
1.3	Other Definitional Provisions	22

SECTION 2	FACILITIES	23
2.1	Commitments	23
2.2	Procedure For Loan Borrowing	23
2.3	Repayment of Term Loans	23
2.4	Conversion and Continuation Options	25
2.5	Fees	25
2.6	Limitations on Eurodollar Tranches	25
2.7	Interest Rates and Payment Dates	25
2.8	Alternate Rate of Interest for LIBOR Loans	26
2.9	Mandatory and Optional Prepayment of Loans	26
2.10	Reserve Requirements; Change in Circumstances	27
2.11	Change in Legality	28
2.12	Indemnity	28
2.13	Pro Rata Treatment	29
2.14	Sharing of Setoffs	29
2.15	Payments	29
2.16	Calculation of LIBOR Rate	30
2.17	Computation of Interest and Fees	30
2.18	Booking Loans	31
2.19	Taxes	31
2.20	Defaulting Lenders	33
2.21	Mitigation Obligations; Replacement of Lenders	33
2.22	Extensions of Loans	34
2.23	Change of Control	35

SECTION 3	REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES	36
3.1	Purpose of Credit Facility; Federal Regulation	36
3.2	Corporate Existence, Good Standing, and Authority	36
3.3	Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries	37
3.4	Financial Statements; No Change	37
3.5	Compliance with Laws, Charter, and Agreements	38
3.6	Litigation	38
3.7	Taxes	38
3.8	Environmental Matters	38
3.9	Employee Benefit Plans	38
3.10	Properties; Liens	39
3.11	Investment Company Status	39
3.12	Transactions with Affiliates	39
3.13	Leases	39



3.14	Labor Matters	39
3.15	Insurance	40
3.16	Solvency	40
3.17	Business	40
3.18	General	40
3.19	No Default	40
3.20	OFAC; Anti-Corruption Laws	40

SECTION 4	CONDITIONS PRECEDENT	41
4.1	Closing Date	41
4.2	Conditions to Funding	42
4.3	Materiality of Conditions	42
4.4	Waiver of Conditions	42

SECTION 5	AFFIRMATIVE COVENANTS	43
5.1	Use of Proceeds	43
5.2	Books and Records	43
5.3	Items to be Furnished	43
5.4	Inspection	45
5.5	Taxes	45
5.6	Payment of Obligations	45
5.7	Expenses	45
5.8	Maintenance of Existence, Assets, Business, and Insurance	46
5.9	Preservation and Protection of Rights	46
5.10	Environmental Laws	46
5.11	Environmental Indemnification	46
5.12	Designation of Unrestricted Subsidiaries	47
5.13	Additional Guarantors	47
5.14	Guarantor Release	47
5.15	CoBank Equity	47
5.16	Compliance with Anti-Corruption Laws, Sanctions	48

SECTION 6	NEGATIVE COVENANTS	48
6.1	Employee Benefit Plans	48
6.2	Liens	48
6.3	Restricted Payments	49
6.4	Mergers and Consolidations	49
6.5	Loans, Advances, and Investments	49
6.6	Transactions with Affiliates	51
6.7	Sale of Assets	52
6.8	Compliance with Laws and Documents; Use of Proceeds	53
6.9	New Businesses	53
6.10	Assignment	53
6.11	Fiscal Year	53
6.12	Investment Company Status	53
6.13	Reserved	54



6.14	Financial Covenants	54
6.15	Priority Debt	55

SECTION 7	DEFAULT	55
7.1	Payment of Obligation	55
7.2	Covenants	56
7.3	Debtor Relief	56
7.4	Attachment	56
7.5	Payment of Judgments	56
7.6	Default Under Other Agreements	56
7.7	Misrepresentation	57
7.8	ERISA	57
7.9	Validity and Enforceability of Loan Papers	57

SECTION 8	RIGHTS AND REMEDIES	57
8.1	Remedies Upon Event of Default	57
8.2	Waivers	58
8.3	Performance by Administrative Agent	58
8.4	Delegation of Duties and Rights	58
8.5	Lenders Not in Control	58
8.6	Waivers by Lenders	58
8.7	Cumulative Rights	59
8.8	Application of Proceeds	59
8.9	Certain Proceedings	59
8.10	Setoff	59

SECTION 9	THE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT	60
9.1	Appointment	60
9.2	Delegation of Duties	60
9.3	Exculpatory Provisions	60
9.4	Reliance by Administrative Agent	60
9.5	Notice of Default	61
9.6	Non-Reliance on the Administrative Agent and Other Lenders	61
9.7	Indemnification	61
9.8	Administrative Agent in its Individual Capacity	62
9.9	Successor Administrative Agent	62

SECTION 10	MISCELLANEOUS	62
10.1	Reserved	62
10.2	Money and Interest	63
10.3	Number and Gender of Words	63
10.4	Headings	63
10.5	Exhibits	63
10.6	Notices	63
10.7	Exceptions to Covenants	64
10.8	Survival	64



10.9	Governing Law	65
10.10	Submission to Jurisdiction; Waivers	65
10.11	WAIVERS OF JURY TRIAL	65
10.12	Severability	65
10.13	Integration	65
10.14	Amendments, Etc.	66
10.15	Waivers	66
10.16	Governmental Regulation	67
10.17	Multiple Counterparts	67
10.18	Successors and Assigns; Participations; Assignments	67
10.19	Confidentiality	70
10.20	Patriot Act	71
10.21	Conflicts and Ambiguities	71
10.22	GENERAL INDEMNIFICATION	71



	SCHEDULES

Commitments		Schedule 1.1
Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries		Schedule 3.3
Transactions with Affiliates		Schedule 3.12
Business of Companies		Schedule 3.17
Voting Participants		Schedule 10.18


	EXHIBITS

Form of Term Note		Exhibit A
Form of Opinion of Borrower's Counsel		Exhibit B
Form of Financial Report Certificate		Exhibit C
Form of Assignment and Assumption		Exhibit D
Form of Guarantee		Exhibit E
Form of Secretary's Certificate		Exhibit F
Form of Exemption Certificate		Exhibit G
Form of Borrowing Notice		Exhibit H

CREDIT AGREEMENT (this “ Agreement ”), dated as of April 18, 2012, among CENTURYLINK, INC., a Louisiana corporation (the “ Borrower ”), the several banks and other financial institutions or entities from time to time parties to this Agreement (the “ Lenders ”) and COBANK, ACB, as administrative agent (in such capacity, the “ Administrative Agent ”).

WITNESSETH :

WHEREAS, capitalized terms used herein and not defined in these recitals shall have the respective meanings set forth for such terms in Section 1.1 hereof;

WHEREAS, the Borrower has requested that the Lenders extend credit on the Closing Date in the form of Loans in an aggregate principal amount of $440,000,000; and

WHEREAS, the Lenders have indicated their willingness to extend such credit on the terms and subject to the conditions set forth herein;

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the above premises, the parties hereto hereby agree as follows:

SECTION 1

DEFINITIONS.

1.1. Certain Defined Terms

As used in this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meanings (such meanings to be equally applicable to both the singular and plural forms of the terms defined):

“ Accounting Changes ” is defined in Section 1.2.

“ Acquisitions ” means the acquisition by the Borrower or its Subsidiaries of at least a majority of the capital stock or all or substantially all of the property of another Person, division of another Person or other business unit of another Person, whether or not involving a merger or consolidation of such Person; provided , that such Person or property is used or useful in a Permitted Line of Business.

“ Adjusted Consolidated Net Worth ” means, as of the date of determination, Consolidated Net Worth minus (a) deferred assets other than prepaid insurance, prepaid taxes, prepaid interest, extraordinary retirements, and deferred charges where such deferred charges are considered by Tribunals when setting rates, (b) patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade names, franchises, experimental expense, goodwill and similar intangible or intellectual property (other than goodwill and similar intangible or intellectual property arising from the purchase of capital stock or assets of a Person engaged in a Permitted Line of Business described on Schedule 3.17), and (c) unamortized debt discount and expense (other than debt discount and expense of the Companies located in jurisdictions where such items are considered by Tribunals when setting rates).

“ Administrative Agent ” is defined in the introduction to this Agreement.

“ Affiliate ” of any Person means any other individual or entity that directly or indirectly controls, or is controlled by, or is under common control with, such Person, and, for purposes of this definition only, “control,” “controlled by,” and “under common control with” mean possession, directly or

indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the direction of the management or policies of such Person (whether through ownership of Voting Stock, by contract, or otherwise).

“ Agent Indemnitee ” is defined in Section 9.7.

“ Agreement ” means this Credit Agreement, as the same may be amended, supplemented, modified or restated from time to time.

“Anti-Corruption Laws” means the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, the United Kingdom Bribery Act of 2010, as amended, and other laws or regulations relating to bribery, corruption or anti-money laundering that apply to the Company’s business or operations.

“ Applicable Margin ” means, at the time of any determination thereof, for each Type of Loan, the margin of interest over the LIBOR Rate or the Base Rate which is applicable at the time of any determination of interest rates under this Agreement, which Applicable Margin shall be adjusted based on the Senior Unsecured Long-Term Debt Rating, as determined as of the last day of the immediately preceding fiscal quarter of the Borrower, as follows:



Senior Unsecured Long-Term Debt Rating	Applicable Margin
Senior Unsecured Long-Term Debt Rating	LIBOR Loans	Base Rate Loans
BBB/Baa2 or higher	1.50 1.00 %	0.50% ---
BBB-/Baa3	1.75 1.25%	0.75 0.25 %
BB+/Ba1	2.00 1.50 %	1.00 0.50 %
BB/Ba2	2.25 1.75 %	1.25 0.75 %
Lower than BB - /Ba 2 3	2.50 2.00 %	1.50 1.00 %
Lower than BB-/Ba3	2.25%	1.25%

“ Approved Bank ” is defined in the definition of Cash Equivalents.

“ Approved Fund ” is defined in Section 10.18(b)(ii).

“ Assignee ” is defined in Section 10.18(b)(i).

“ Assignment and Assumption ” means an Assignment and Assumption, substantially in the form of Exhibit D.

“ Attributable Debt ” means, in respect of any sale and leaseback transaction, at the time of determination, the present value of the obligation of the lessee for the net rental payments during the remaining term of the lease included in such sale and leaseback transaction including any period for which such lease has been extended or may, at the sole option of the lessor, be extended. Such present value shall be calculated using the discount rate equal to the rate of interest implicit in such transaction, determined in accordance with GAAP.

“ Bankruptcy Event ” means, with respect to any Person, such Person becomes the subject of a bankruptcy or insolvency proceeding, or has had a receiver, conservator, trustee, administrator, custodian, assignee for the benefit of creditors or similar Person charged with the reorganization or

liquidation of its business appointed for it; provided , that a Bankruptcy Event shall not result solely by virtue of any ownership interest, or the acquisition of any ownership interest, in such Person by a Tribunal or instrumentality thereof; provided , further , that such ownership interest does not result in or provide such Person with immunity from the jurisdiction of courts within the United States or from the enforcement of judgments or writs of attachment on its assets or permit such Person (or such Tribunal or instrumentality) to reject, repudiate, disavow or disaffirm any contracts or agreements made by such Person.

“ Base Rate ” means, for any day, a rate per annum announced by the Administrative Agent on the first Business Day of each week (rounded upwards, if necessary, to the next 1/16 of 1%) equal to the greatest of (a) the Prime Rate in effect on such day, (b) the Federal Funds Effective Rate in effect on such day plus ½ of 1% and (c) the LIBOR Rate that would be calculated as of such day (or if such day is not a Business Day, as of the next preceding Business Day), in respect of a proposed LIBOR Loan with a one-month Interest Period plus 1%. For purposes hereof: “ Prime Rate ” shall mean the rate of interest per annum quoted in the print edition of The Wall Street Journal, Money Rates Section as the Prime Rate (currently defined as the base rate on corporate loans posted by at least 70 75 % of the nation’s 10 30 largest banks), as in effect from time to time. If The Wall Street Journal ceases publication of such rate, then the Prime Rate shall mean such rate selected by the Administrative Agent in its reasonable judgment as most nearly approximates the foregoing (the Prime Rate not being intended to be the lowest rate of interest charged by CoBank, ACB in connection with extensions of credit to debtors). Any change in the Base Rate due to a change in the Prime Rate, the Federal Funds Effective Rate or such LIBOR Rate shall be effective as of the opening of business on the effective day of such change in the Prime Rate, the Federal Funds Effective Rate or such LIBOR Rate, respectively.

“ Base Rate Loan ” means any Loan the rate of interest applicable to which is based upon the Base Rate.

“ Below Investment Grade Rating ” means a Debt Rating that meets both of the following criteria: (a) lower than Baa3 (or the equivalent) by Moody’s and (b) lower than BBB- (or the equivalent) by S&P.

“ Board ” means the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System of the United States.

“ Board of Directors ” is defined in Section 2.23(b).

“ Borrower ” is defined in the introduction to this Agreement.

“ Borrowing ” means a borrowing consisting of simultaneous Loans from each of the Lenders distributed ratably among the Lenders in accordance with their respective Commitments.

“ Business Day ” means a day other than a Saturday, Sunday or other day on which commercial banks in New York City are authorized or required by law to close; provided , that with respect to notices and determinations in connection with, and payments of principal and interest on, LIBOR Loans, such day is also a day for trading by and between banks in Dollar deposits in the interbank eurodollar market.

“ Capital Stock ” means any and all shares, interests, participations or other equivalents (however designated) of capital stock of a corporation, any and all equivalent ownership interests in a Person (other than a corporation) and any and all warrants, rights or options to purchase any of the foregoing.

“ Cash Equivalents ” means, as at any date, (a) securities issued or directly and fully guaranteed or insured by the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof (provided that the full faith and credit of the United States is pledged in support thereof) having maturities of not more than 12 months from the date of acquisition, (b) dollar denominated time deposits and certificates of deposit of (i) any Lender, (ii) any domestic commercial bank of recognized standing having capital and surplus in excess of $500,000,000 or (iii) any bank whose short-term commercial paper rating from S&P is at least A-1 or the equivalent thereof or from Moody’s is at least P-1 or the equivalent thereof (any such bank being an “Approved Bank”), in each case with maturities of not more than 270 days from the date of acquisition, (c) commercial paper and variable or fixed rate notes issued by any Approved Bank (or by the parent company thereof) or any variable rate notes issued by, or guaranteed by, any domestic corporation rated A-1 (or the equivalent thereof) or better by S&P or P-1 (or the equivalent thereof) or better by Moody’s and maturing within six months of the date of acquisition, (d) repurchase agreements entered into by any Person with a bank or trust company (including any of the Lenders) or recognized securities dealer having capital and surplus in excess of $500,000,000 for direct obligations issued by or fully guaranteed by the United States in which such Person shall have a perfected first priority security interest (subject to no other Liens) and having, on the date of purchase thereof, a fair market value of at least 100% of the amount of the repurchase obligations and (e) investments, classified in accordance with GAAP as current assets, in money market investment programs registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, which are administered by reputable financial institutions having capital of at least $500,000,000 and the portfolios of which are limited to investments of the character described in the foregoing subdivisions (a) through (d).

“ Change of Control ” is defined in Section 2.23.

“CIT” means CenturyTel Investments of Texas, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

“ CLO ” is defined in Section 10.18(b)(ii).

“ Closing Date ” means the date on which the conditions set forth in Section 4.1 shall have been satisfied, which date is April 18, 2012.

“ CoBank ” means CoBank, ACB.

“ CoBank Equities ” is defined in Section 5.15(a).

“ Code ” means the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, together with rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.

“ Commitment ” means, as to any Lender, the obligation of such Lender to make a Loan on the Closing Date in a principal amount not to exceed the amount set forth under the heading “Commitment” opposite such Lender’s name on Schedule 1.1. The aggregate amount of the Commitments on the Closing Date is $440,000,000.

“ Companies ” means, collectively, the Borrower and its Subsidiaries, and “Company” means any of the same.

“ Confidential Information ” is defined in Section 10.19(b).

“ Consolidated EBITDA ” means the EBITDA of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries on a consolidated basis.

“ Consolidated Net Worth ” means, as of the date of determination, the amount of stated capital plus (or minus, in the case of a deficit) the capital surplus and earned surplus of the Companies, as calculated in accordance with GAAP (but treating Minority Interests in Subsidiaries as liabilities and excluding the contra-equity account resulting from the Borrower’s obligations under its employee stock ownership plan commitments). For purposes of this Agreement, Consolidated Net Worth shall exclude the effect of (a) FASB Statements No. 101 (“Regulated Enterprises-Accounting for the Discontinuation of Application of FASB Statement No. 71”), and 106 (“Employers’ Accounting for Postretirement Benefits Other than Pensions”); and (b) as it relates to impairment charges, FASB Statements No. 142 (“Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets”) and 144 (“Accounting for the Impairment or Disposal of Long-Lived Assets”) of the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

“ Consolidated Tangible Assets ” means, as of the date of determination, the total assets of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries, determined on a c C onsolidated basis in accordance with GAAP Total Assets , minus (without duplication) the net book value of all such assets that would be treated as intangible assets, determined on a consolidated basis in accordance with GAAP.

“ Consolidated Total Assets ” means, as of the date of determination, the total assets of the Borrower s and its Subsidiaries, determined on a consolidated basis in accordance with GAAP, as shown on a consolidated balance sheet of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries for the most recently ended calendar quarter for which Financial Statements are available .

“ Consolidated Total Funded Debt ” means, as of the date of determination, the aggregate principal amount of all Funded Debt of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries at such date, determined on a consolidated basis in accordance with GAAP.

“ Credit Party ” means the Administrative Agent or any other Lender.

“CSG” means CenturyTel Service Group, LLC, a Louisiana limited liability company.

“ Current Date ” means any date after March 1, 2012.

“ Current Financials ” means the consolidated Financial Statements of the Companies for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011.

“ Debt ” means (without duplication), for any Person, all obligations, contingent or otherwise (including, without limitation, contingent obligations in connection with letters of credit), which in accordance with GAAP should be classified upon such Person’s balance sheet as liabilities, but in any event including, without limitation, whether or not such obligations in accordance with GAAP should be classified as liabilities, (a) liabilities secured (or for which the holder of such Debt has an existing Right, contingent or otherwise, to be so secured) by any Lien existing on property owned or acquired by such Person or a Subsidiary thereof (whether or not the liability secured thereby shall have been assumed), (b) obligations which have been or under GAAP should be capitalized for financial reporting purposes, (c) all guaranties, endorsements, and other contingent obligations with respect to Debt of others, including, but not limited to, any obligations to purchase, sell, or furnish property or services intended by a Company primarily for the purpose of enabling such other Person to make payment of any of such Person’s Debt, or to otherwise assure the holder of any of such Debt against loss with respect thereto, and (d) liabilities under any Swap Agreement; provided that a Person’s liabilities under any ISDA Swap Agreement with a particular counter party shall be calculated on a net basis. Notwithstanding the forgoing, for purposes of determining Debt of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries, the determination of

whether a lease is characterized as an “operating lease” or a “capital lease” shall be made in accordance with GAAP as it exists on the Closing Date.

“ Debt Rating ” means the public debt rating by S&P and Moody’s for that class of non‑credit enhanced, senior unsecured debt with an original term of longer than one year issued by the Borrower which has the lowest rating of all classes of non-credit enhanced, senior unsecured debt with an original term of longer than one year issued by the Borrower.

“ Debtor Relief Laws ” means the Bankruptcy Code of the United States of America and all other applicable liquidation, conservatorship, bankruptcy, moratorium, rearrangement, receivership, insolvency, reorganization, fraudulent transfer or conveyance, suspension of payments, or similar Laws from time to time in effect affecting the Rights of creditors generally.

“ Default ” means the occurrence of any event which with the giving of notice or the passage of time or both would become an Event of Default.

“ Defaulting Lender ” means any Lender that (a) has failed, within two Business Days of the date required to be funded or paid, to pay over to any Credit Party any amount required to be paid by it hereunder, or (b) has become the subject of a Bankruptcy Event.

“ Dollars ” and “ $ ” means dollars in lawful currency of the United States.

“ Domestic Person ” means any Person organized under the laws of any jurisdiction within the United States.

“ Domestic Subsidiary ” means any Subsidiary of the Borrower organized under the laws of any jurisdiction within the United States.

“ EBITDA ” means for any period and for any Person (the “ Test Person ”), (1) consolidated net income of such Test Person and its consolidated Subsidiaries for such period adjusted to exclude (or, in case of clause (l) below include) the effect of (a) any non-cash losses resulting from requirements to mark-to-market Swap Agreements, foreign exchange transactions or other transactions executed pursuant to an ISDA master agreement, (b) any expense items relating to mergers or acquisitions, including severance, retention and integration costs and change of control payments, provided that adjustments pursuant to this clause (b) for any period shall be consistent with those reported in such Test Person’s public reports in accordance with Regulation G and shall not exceed 5% of EBITDA for the last four fiscal quarters (to be calculated after giving effect to adjustments pursuant to this clause (b)), (c) any losses in respect of litigation that is described in the Form 10-K filed by the Test Person for the calendar year 2010, not to exceed $400 million in the aggregate over the course of the agreement, (d) any gains or losses in connection with the repurchase or retirement of Debt, (e) any loss reflected in such net income all or any portion of which is reasonably expected to be paid or reimbursed by an insurer, indemnitor or other third party source, provided that, to the extent that the claim for all or any portion of any such reasonably expected payment or reimbursement is not accepted by the applicable insurer, indemnitor or other third party source within 180 days of the loss event, there shall be a corresponding deduction from EBITDA; and provided further , that recognition or receipt of all or any portion of any such reasonably expected payment or reimbursement from the applicable insurer, indemnitor or other third party source shall be deducted from EBITDA to the extent reflected in net income, (f) any non-cash losses as a result of (i) impairment of goodwill under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 142, (ii) an impairment of fixed assets under Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 144, (iii) any amortization of intangibles pursuant to Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 141, or (iv) the implementation of any future modifications to the accounting standards employed by such Test Person and its consolidated Subsidiaries, including any costs or charges associated with leases that are not characterized as “capital leases” under GAAP, (g) gains or losses resulting from activity of any unconsolidated Persons provided that EBITDA shall be increased by cash distributed by and reduced by money invested in such unconsolidated Person, (h) gains or losses from marking to market portfolio assets until recognized for income tax purposes, (i) without duplication of any other exclusions in this definition of EBITDA, any extraordinary or other non-recurring non-cash income, expenses, gain or loss, provided that any cash payments received or made as result of such gain or loss

(regardless of when the gain or loss was incurred) shall be included in the calculation of EBITDA for the period in which they are received or made (unless previously included for purposes of this calculation), (j) any gain or loss on the disposition of investments, (k) income (or loss) for such period of any Person, or attributable to any assets, disposed of during such period determined on a pro forma basis as though such Person or assets had been disposed of on the first day of such period) and (l) income (or loss) for such period of any Person that became a Subsidiary of such Test Person during such period or attributable to any assets acquired during such period, in each case, determined on a pro forma basis as though such Person or such assets were acquired on the first day of such period, plus , to the extent deducted in determining such adjusted net income, the aggregate amount of (2) interest expense, excluding the amortization or write-off of Debt discount or premiums and Debt issuance costs and commissions, discounts and other fees and charges associated with Debt (including, if applicable, Loans), (3) income tax expense, (4) depreciation and amortization and (5) any non-cash charges to net income relating to the establishment of reserves and any income relating to the release of such reserves, provided that EBITDA shall be reduced by any cash expended that reduces the amount of any reserve.

“ Eligible Reinvestment ” means (a) any acquisition (whether or not constituting a capital expenditure, but not constituting an Acquisition) of assets or any business (or any part thereof) used or useful in a Permitted Line of Business and (b) any Acquisition.

“ Embarq ” means Embarq Corporation, a Delaware corporation.

“EMC” means Embarq Management Company, a Delaware corporation.

“ Environmental Law ” means any Law that relates to the environment or handling or control of Hazardous Substances.

“ Equity Units ” means any offering of equity units issued by the Borrower the structure, terms and conditions of which are substantially similar to the offering of $500,000,000 aggregate principal amount of equity units issued by the Borrower on April 29, 2002.

“ ERISA ” means the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended from time to time, and the regulations promulgated thereunder.

“ ERISA Affiliate ” means any company or trade or business (whether or not incorporated) which, together with any Company, is treated as a single employer within the meaning of section 414 of the Code.

“ Eurocurrency Reserve Requirements ” means, for any day as applied to a LIBOR Loan, the aggregate (without duplication) of the maximum rates (expressed as a decimal fraction) of reserve requirements in effect on such day (including basic, supplemental, marginal and emergency reserves) under any regulations of the Board or other Tribunal having jurisdiction with respect thereto dealing with reserve requirements prescribed for eurocurrency funding (currently referred to as “Eurocurrency Liabilities” in Regulation D) maintained by a member bank of the Federal Reserve System.

“ Eurodollar Tranche ” means the collective reference to LIBOR Loans the then current Interest Periods with respect to all of which begin on the same date and end on the same later date (whether or not such Loans shall originally have been made on the same day).

“ Event of Default ” means any of the events described in Section 7; provided , that there has been satisfied any requirement in connection therewith for the giving of notice, lapse of time, or happening of any further condition, event, or act.

“ Exchange Act ” is defined in Section 2.23(a).

“ Excluded Regulated Subsidiary ” means any regulated Subsidiary as to which the guaranteeing by such Subsidiary of the Obligations of the Borrower would, in the good faith judgment of the Borrower, result in adverse regulatory consequences to such Subsidiary, be prohibited without regulatory approval or impair the conduct of the business of such Subsidiary.

“Excluded Specified Debt” means (i) Debt, whether secured or unsecured, of an Excluded Specified Subsidiary that exists at the time such entity is acquired and is not incurred in contemplation of such acquisition, to the extent that either: (A)(1) the total consideration (excluding assumed Debt of the Excluded Specified Subsidiary and its Subsidiaries but including Debt incurred by the Borrower or any Guarantor in connection with the acquisition) paid by Borrower for the acquisition of the Excluded Specified Subsidiary and its Subsidiaries consists of at least 80% of Borrower Capital Stock, (2) the Capital Stock of the Excluded Specified Subsidiary is owned by Borrower or any Guarantor and (3) after giving effect to the acquisition of such Excluded Specified Subsidiary, the Borrower shall be in compliance, on a pro forma basis, with the covenants set forth in Section 6.14; or (B) such Debt is not described in subsection (i)(A) of this definition and does not exceed $1 billion in the aggregate and (ii) any Permitted Refinancing Debt of the Debt described in subsection (i) of this definition.

“ Excluded Specified Subsidiary ” means any Subsidiary that is not permitted to (including its Subsidiaries) (a) that is acquired after the First Amendment Effective Date, (b) that is prohibited from enter ing into the Guarantee Agreement due to restrictions contained in documentation governing the Debt of such Subsidiary , so long as the aggregate amount of Debt incurred or permitted to be incurred by (to the extent such documentation was not entered into in contemplation of such acquisition) or for which entrance into the Guarantee Agreement would create a default under the documentation governing the Debt of such Subsidiary and (c) that has Debt in excess of $25,000,000 incurred under such documentation equals at least $25,000,000 to the extent that such Debt can that cannot be prepaid without penalty.

“ Extension ” is defined in Section 2.22(a).

“ Exiting Lender ” is defined in Section 2.23.

“ Extended Loan ” is defined in Section 2.22(a)(ii).

“ Extension Offer ” is defined in Section 2.22(a).

“ Farm Credit Lender ” means a lending institution organized and existing pursuant to the provisions of the Farm Credit Act of 1971 and under the regulation of the Farm Credit Administration.

“ FATCA ” means Sections 1471 through 1474 of the Code, as of the Closing Date (or any amended or successor version that is substantially comparable and not materially more onerous to comply with) and any current or future regulations or official interpretations thereof .

“ Federal Funds Effective Rate ” means, for any day, the weighted average of the rates on overnight federal funds transactions with members of the Federal Reserve System arranged by federal funds brokers, as published on the next succeeding Business Day by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, or, if such rate is not so published for any day that is a Business Day, the average of the quotations for the day of such transactions received by the Administrative Agent from three federal funds brokers of recognized standing selected by it.

“ Financial Officer ” means the chief financial officer, treasurer or controller of the Borrower.

“ Financial Report Certificate ” means a certificate substantially in the form of Exhibit C.

“ Financial Statements ” means balance sheets, income statements, statements of stockholders’ equity, and statements of cash flow prepared in comparative form to the corresponding period of the preceding fiscal year, in each case for (a) the Borrower and its Subsidiaries on a consolidated basis and (b) the Borrower and its Subsidiaries and Unrestricted Subsidiaries on a consolidated basis.

“First Amendment” means the First Amendment to this Agreement dated as of the First Amendment Effective Date.

“First Amendment Effective Date” means March 13, 2015.

“ Funded Debt ” with respect to any Person, shall mean and include, as of any date as of which the amount thereof is to be determined, (a) indebtedness of such Person for borrowed money, (b) all obligations of such Person for the deferred purchase price of property or services (other than current trade payables incurred in the ordinary course of such Person’s business), (c) all obligations of such Person evidenced by notes, bonds, debentures or other similar instruments, (d) all indebtedness created or arising under any conditional sale or other title retention agreement with respect to property acquired by such Person (even though the rights and remedies of the seller or lender under such agreement in the event of default are limited to repossession or sale of such property), (e) liabilities secured (or for which the holder thereof has an existing Right, contingent or otherwise, to be so secured) by any Lien existing on property owned or acquired by such Person or a Subsidiary thereof (whether or not the liability secured thereby shall have been assumed), excluding any Lien on equity interests of an Unrestricted Subsidiary or joint venture securing obligations of such Unrestricted Subsidiary or joint venture and its subsidiaries, (f) obligations of such Person which have been or under GAAP should be capitalized for financial reporting purposes, and (g) Attributable Debt of such Person, but excluding (i) indebtedness secured by or borrowed against the cash surrender value of life insurance policies up to the amount of such cash surrender value and (ii) an amount equal to 80% of the outstanding principal amount of indebtedness under the Equity Units. Notwithstanding the forgoing, for purposes of determining Funded Debt of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries, the determination of whether a lease is characterized as an “operating lease” or a “capital lease” shall be made in accordance with GAAP as it exists on the Closing Date.

“ Funding Office ” means the office of the Administrative Agent specified in Section 10.6 or such other office as may be specified from time to time by the Administrative Agent as its funding office by written notice to the Borrower and the Lenders.

“ GAAP ” means generally accepted accounting principles of the Accounting Principles Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Financial Accounting Standards Board which are applicable as of the date of the Financial Statements in question.

“ Guarantee Agreement ” means the Guarantee Agreement to be executed and delivered by each Guarantor, substantially in the form of Exhibit E.

“ Guarantors ” means (a) Embarq CIT , (b) QCII CSG , (c ) Embarq, (d) EMC, (e) QCII, (f ) Qwest Services, ( d g) Savvis, (h) SCC, (i) UTCO, (j ) any Guarantor Significant Subsidiary that is a Domestic Subsidiary, other than (x) any Excluded Regulated Subsidiary and (y) any Excluded Specified Subsidiary , (e) at all times after the first date after the Closing Date that the Borrower obtains a Below Investment Grade Rating, Savvis and SCC and ( f k ) any other Subsidiary that executes a Guarantee Agreement pursuant to Section 5.13. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in any event, any Company that either (i) enters into a Guaranty with respect to Funded Debt of the Borrower or (ii) becomes jointly and severally liable for the Funded Debt of the Borrower shall become a Guarantor.

“ Guarantor Significant Subsidiary ” means (1) a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Borrower (a) the assets of which are equal to or greater than 10% of Consolidated Total Assets (other than assets of any Excluded Specified Subsidiaries) as of the last date of the most recent fiscal quarter for which financial statements are available , (b) the operating revenue of which, for the year to date through the most recent ly ended period of four consecutive fiscal quarter s for which financial statements are available , is equal to or greater than 10% of the operating revenues of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries (other than Excluded Specified Subsidiaries) for such period, or (c) the net income from recurring operations (excluding any extraordinary or other non-recurring income, expenses, gain or loss) of which, for the year to date through the most recent ly ended period of four consecutive fiscal quarter s for which financial statements are available , is equal to or greater than 10% of the net income from recurring operations (excluding any extraordinary or other non-recurring income, expenses, gain or loss) of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries (other than Excluded Specified Subsidiaries) for such period . ; or (2) N n otwithstanding the foregoing, at all times after the first date after the Closing Date that the Borrower obtains a Below Investment Grade Rating, the term “Guarantor Significant Subsidiary” shall mean a Subsidiary of the Borrower (x) the assets of which are equal to or greater than 5% of Consolidated Total Assets (other than assets of any Excluded Specified Subsidiaries) as of the last date of the most recent fiscal quarter for which financial statements are available , (y) the operating revenue of which, for the year to date through the most recent ly ended period of four consecutive fiscal quarter s for which financial statements are made available , is equal to or greater than 5% of the operating revenues of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries (other than Excluded Specified Subsidiaries) for such period, or (z) the net income from recurring operations (excluding any extraordinary or other non-recurring income, expenses, gain or loss) of which, for the year to date through the most recent ly ended period of four consecutive fiscal quarter s for which financial statements are available , is equal to or greater than 5% of the net income from recurring operations (excluding any extraordinary or other non-recurring income, expenses, gain or loss) of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries (other than Excluded Specified Subsidiaries) for such period.

“ Guaranty ” means by any particular Person, all obligations of such Person guaranteeing or in effect guaranteeing any Debt, dividend or other obligation of any other Person (the “ primary obligor ”) in any manner whether directly or indirectly, including, without limitation of the generality of the foregoing, obligations incurred through an agreement, contingent or otherwise, by such particular Person (a) to purchase such Debt or obligation or any property constituting security therefor, (b) to advance or supply funds (i) for the purchase or payment of such Debt or obligation or (ii) to maintain working capital or equity capital or otherwise to advance or make available funds for the purchase or payment of such Debt or obligation, (c) to purchase property, securities or services primarily for the purpose of assuring the owner of such Debt or obligation of the ability of the primary obligor to make payment of the Debt or obligation or (d) otherwise to assure the owner of the Debt or obligation of the primary obligor against loss in respect thereof.

“ Hazardous Substance ” means any hazardous or toxic waste, pollutant, contaminant, or substance.

“ Incumbent Board ” is defined in Section 2.23(b).

“ Indemnified Liabilities ” is defined in Section 10.22.

“ Indemnified Parties ” is defined in Section 10.22.

“ Insolvent ” means, with respect to any Multiemployer Plan, the condition that such plan is insolvent within the meaning of section 4245 of ERISA.

“ Interest Payment Date ” means (a) as to any Base Rate Loan, the last day of each March, June, September and December to occur while such Loan is outstanding and the final maturity date of such Loan, (b) as to any LIBOR Loan having an Interest Period of three months or less, the last day of such Interest Period, (c) as to any LIBOR Loan having an Interest Period longer than three months, each day that is three months, or a whole multiple thereof, after the first day of such Interest Period and the last day of such Interest Period, (d) as to any Loan (other than any Loan that is a Base Rate Loan), the date of any repayment or optional prepayment made in respect thereof and (e) as to any Loan, the date of any mandatory prepayment in respect thereof.

“ Interest Period ” means, as to any LIBOR Loan, (a) initially, the period commencing on the borrowing or conversion date, as the case may be, with respect to such LIBOR Loan and ending one, two, three or six months ( or nine or twelve months if agreed to by all Lenders) thereafter, as selected by the Borrower in its notice of borrowing or notice of conversion, as the case may be, given with respect thereto; and (b) thereafter, each period commencing on the last day of the next preceding Interest Period applicable to such LIBOR Loan and ending one, two, three or six months (or nine or twelve months if agreed to by all Lenders) thereafter, as selected by the Borrower by irrevocable notice to the Administrative Agent not later than 11:00 A.M., New York City time, on the date that is three Business Days prior to the last day of the then current Interest Period with respect thereto; provided , that all of the foregoing provisions relating to Interest Periods are subject to the following:

(i) if any Interest Period would otherwise end on a day that is not a Business Day, such Interest Period shall be extended to the next succeeding Business Day unless the result of such extension would be to carry such Interest Period into another calendar month in which event such Interest Period shall end on the immediately preceding Business Day;

(ii) the Borrower may not select an Interest Period that would extend beyond the Termination Date unless the Borrower acknowledges that it will be responsible for any breakage costs owing under Section 2.12 resulting from repayment on the Termination Date;

(iii) any Interest Period that begins on the last Business Day of a calendar month (or on a day for which there is no numerically corresponding day in the calendar month at the end of such Interest Period) shall end on the last Business Day of a calendar month; and

(iv) subject to clause (ii) above, the Borrower shall select Interest Periods so as not to require a payment or prepayment of any LIBOR Loan during an Interest Period for such Loan.

“ Investments ” is defined in Section 6.5.

“ Laws ” means all applicable statutes, laws, treaties, ordinances, rules, regulations, orders, writs, injunctions, decrees, judgments, or opinions of any Tribunal.

“ Lead Arranger ” means CoBank, ACB.

“ Lenders ” means those lenders signatory hereto and other financial institutions which from time to time become party hereto pursuant to the provisions of this Agreement.

“ LIBOR ” means, with respect to each day during each Interest Period pertaining to a LIBOR Loan, the rate per annum determined by the ICE Benchmark Administration (or any successor that takes over the administration of such rate) on the basis of the rate for deposits in Dollars for a period equal to such Interest Period commencing on the first day of such Interest Period appearing in Bloomberg Professional Service (or any successor page) as the London Interbank offered rate as of 11:00 A.M., London time, two Business Days prior to the beginning of such Interest Period ; provided, that if such rate shall be less than zero, such rate shall be deemed to be zero for purposes of this Agreement . In the event that such rate does not appear on such page (or otherwise on such screen), “ LIBOR ” shall be determined by reference to such other comparable publicly available service for displaying eurodollar rates as may be selected by the Administrative Agent or, in the absence of such availability, by reference to the rate at which the Administrative Agent is offered Dollar deposits at or about 11:00 A.M., New York City time, two Business Days prior to the beginning of such Interest Period in the interbank eurodollar market where its eurodollar and foreign currency and exchange operations are then being conducted for delivery on the first day of such Interest Period for the number of days comprised therein ; provided, that if such rate shall be less than zero, such rate shall be deemed to be zero for purposes of this Agreement .

“ LIBOR Loan ” means any Loan the rate of interest applicable to which is based upon the LIBOR Rate, other than any Base Rate Loan.

“ LIBOR Rate ” means, with respect to each day during each Interest Period pertaining to a LIBOR Loan, a rate per annum determined for such day in accordance with the following formula (rounded upward to the nearest 1/100th of 1%):

LIBOR

1.00 - Eurocurrency Reserve Requirements

“ Lien ” means any lien, mortgage, security interest, pledge, assignment, charge, title, retention agreement, or encumbrance of any kind, and any other Right of or arrangement with any creditor to have his claim satisfied out of any property, or the proceeds therefrom, prior to the general creditors of the owners thereof.

“ Litigation ” means any action conducted, pending, or threatened by or before any Tribunal.

“ Loan Papers ” means (i) this Agreement, certificates delivered pursuant to this Agreement, and exhibits and schedules hereto, (ii) any notes, security documents, guaranties, and other agreements in favor of the Administrative Agent and the Lenders, or any or some of them, ever delivered in connection with this Agreement, including the Guarantee Agreement, and (iii) all renewals, extensions, or restatements of, or amendments or supplements to, any of the foregoing.

“ Loan Parties ” means each Company that is a party to a Loan Paper.

“ Loans ” is defined in Section 2.1.

“ Majority Lenders ” means at any time the Lenders and Voting Participants holding or participating in more than 50% of the aggregate unpaid principal amount of the Loans then outstanding.

“ Margin Stock ” means “margin stock” within the meaning of Regulations T, U, or X.

“ Material Adverse Effect ” means any set of one or more circumstances or events which, individually or collectively, will result in any of the following: (a) a material and adverse effect upon the validity or enforceability of any Loan Paper, (b) a material and adverse effect on the consolidated financial condition of the Companies represented in the later of the Current Financials or the most recent audited consolidated Financial Statements, (c) a Default or (d) the issuance of an accountant’s report on the Companies’ consolidated Financial Statements containing an explanatory paragraph about the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern (as defined in accordance with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards).

“ Material Agreement ” of any Person means any material written or oral agreement, contract, commitment, or understanding to which such Person is a party, by which such Person is directly or indirectly bound, or to which any assets of such Person may be subject, and which is not cancelable by such Person upon 30 days or less notice without liability for further payment other than nominal penalty, and which requires such Person to pay more than the greater of $250,000,000 or 1% of Consolidated Net Worth during any 12-month period. For the avoidance of doubt, the agreements constituting Excluded Specified Debt will be considered “Material Agreements” for purposes of this Agreement.

“ Minimum Extension Condition ” is defined in Section 2.22(b).

“ Minority Interest ” means, with respect to any Subsidiary, an amount determined by valuing preferred stock held by Persons other than the Borrower and its Wholly Owned Subsidiaries at the voluntary or involuntary liquidating value of such preferred stock, whichever is greater, and by valuing common stock or partnership interests held by Persons other than the Borrower and its Wholly Owned Subsidiaries at the book value of capital and surplus applicable thereto on the books of such Subsidiary adjusted, if necessary, to reflect any changes from the book value of common stock required by the foregoing method of valuing Minority Interest attributable to preferred stock.

“ Moody’s ” means Moody’s Investors Service, Inc.

“ Multiemployer Plan ” means a multiemployer plan as defined in sections 3(37) or 4001(a)(3) of ERISA or section 414 of the Code to which any Company or any ERISA Affiliate is making, or has made, or is accruing, or has accrued, an obligation to make contributions.

“ Net Cash Proceeds ” means the aggregate cash or Cash Equivalents proceeds received by the Company in respect of any disposition of assets, as contemplated by Section 6.7(g), net of (a) direct costs (including, without limitation, legal, accounting and investment banking fees, and sales commissions); (b) Taxes paid or payable as a result thereof; (c) the amount necessary to retire any Debt secured by a Permitted Lien on the related property (unless the purchaser of the assets has assumed the obligations to repay such Debt); (d) with respect to a Subsidiary that is not a Wholly Owned Subsidiary, that portion of such proceeds allocable to the Minority Interests; and (e) the amount of any reserves established by the Borrower and its Subsidiaries to fund contingent liabilities reasonably estimated to be payable and the amount of capital and operating expenditures that would not otherwise have been incurred and are required in writing or by application of policy by a public utility commission to be incurred as a condition to its consent, in each case during the year that such event occurred or the next succeeding year and that are directly attributable to such event (as determined reasonably and in good faith by a Financial Officer (or any such officer’s designee, designated in writing by such officer) of the Borrower ); it being understood that “Net Cash

Proceeds” shall include, without limitation, any cash or Cash Equivalents received upon the sale or other disposition of any non-cash consideration received by any such Company in any disposition of assets.

“ Non-Excluded Taxes ” is defined in Section 2.19(a).

“ Non-Exiting Lender ” is defined in Section 2.23.

“ Non-U.S. Lender ” is defined in Section 2.19(d).

“ Note ” means a promissory note of the Borrower, in substantially the form of Exhibit A hereto, with the blanks appropriately completed, evidencing the aggregate indebtedness of the Borrower to such Lender resulting from the Loans made by such Lender to the Borrower, together with all modifications, extensions, renewals, and rearrangements thereof.

“ Obligation ” means all present and future indebtedness, obligations, and liabilities, and all renewals, extensions, and modifications thereof, owed to the Administrative Agent and the Lenders, or any or some of them, by the Borrower, arising pursuant to any Loan Paper, together with all interest thereon and costs, expenses, and attorneys’ fees incurred in the enforcement or collection thereof.

“ OFAC ” is defined in Section 3.20.

“ Optional Termination Date ” is defined in Section 2.23.

“ Other Taxes ” means any and all present or future stamp or documentary taxes or any other excise or property taxes, charges or similar levies arising from any payment made hereunder or from the execution, delivery or enforcement of, or otherwise with respect to, this Agreement or any other Loan Paper including any interest, additions to tax or penalties applicable thereto, but excluding the Taxes described in clause (i) and clause (ii) of Section 2.19(a).

“ Parent ” means, with respect to any Lender, any Person as to which such Lender is, directly or indirectly, a subsidiary.

“ Participant ” is defined in Section 10.18(c).

“ Participant Register ” is defined in Section 10.18(c).

“ Patriot Act ” is defined in Section 10.20.

“ PBGC ” means the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, or any successor thereof, established pursuant to ERISA.

“ Permitted Liens ” means:

(a) Liens as of the Closing First Amendment Effective Date;

(b) any Lien existing on any asset prior to the acquisition thereof by the Borrower or a Subsidiary (to the extent the acquisition is permitted by this Agreement), so long as such Lien was not incurred in contemplation of such acquisition;

(c) any Lien securing Debt incurred for the purchase or capital lease of one or more assets (if such Lien encumbers only the assets so purchased or leased);

(d) pledges or deposits made to secure payment of workers’ compensation, or to participate in any fund in connection with workers’ compensation, unemployment insurance, pensions, or other social security programs;

(e) Liens or good-faith pledges or deposits made to secure performance of bids, tenders, contracts (other than for the repayment of borrowed money), or leases, or to secure statutory obligations, surety or appeal bonds, or indemnity, performance, or similar bonds, government contracts or other similar obligations in the ordinary course of business;

(f) easements, rights-of-way, zoning restrictions and other similar charges, encumbrances and restrictions in respect of real property or immaterial imperfections of title which do not, in the aggregate, materially impair the ordinary conduct of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole;

(g) (i) Liens for Taxes, (ii) Liens upon, and defects of title to, property, including any attachment of property or other legal process prior to adjudication of a dispute on the merits, (iii) Liens of mechanics, materialmen, warehousemen, carriers, and landlords, and similar Liens, and (iv) adverse judgments on appeal, in each case, with respect to this clause (g), if either (x) no amounts are due and payable and no Lien has been filed or agreed to or (y) the validity or amount thereof is being contested in good faith by lawful proceedings diligently conducted, reserve or other provision required by GAAP has been made, levy and execution thereon have been (and continue to be) stayed, and neither the value nor use of the property in question are materially affected;

(h) Liens in favor of the United States Department of Agriculture, the Rural Electrification Administration, the Rural Utilities Service, the Rural Telephone Bank or similar lenders such as the Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative;

(i) Liens on equity investments in a financial institution which requires any Company to make an equity investment in such institution in order to borrow money;

(j) Liens existing on any property of a Subsidiary existing at the time it became a Subsidiary which were not created with view of becoming a Subsidiary, provided that the Debt secured by such Liens may not be increased, extended, renewed or continued beyond its original stated maturity if such increase, extension or renewal would result in a Default under Section 6.14;

(k) Liens either on shares of stock or other equity interests of an entity which, when such Liens arise, concurrently becomes a Subsidiary or on assets of an entity arising in connection with acquisition thereof by the Borrower or a Subsidiary; provided , that the Debt secured by such Liens may not be increased or extended, renewed or continued beyond its original stated maturity if such increase, extension or renewal would result in a Default under Section 6.14;

(l) Liens securing reimbursement obligations with respect to commercial letters of credit which encumber documents and other assets relating to such letters of credit and products and proceeds thereof;

(m) Liens encumbering deposits made to secure obligations arising from statutory, regulatory, contractual or warranty requirements of the Borrower or any Subsidiary, including rights of offset and setoff;

(n) bankers’ Liens, rights of setoff and other similar Liens existing solely with respect to cash and Cash Equivalents on deposit in one or more of accounts maintained by the Borrower or any Subsidiary, in each case granted in the ordinary course of business in favor of the bank or banks with which such accounts are maintained, securing amounts owing to such bank or banks with respect to cash management and operating account arrangements, including those involving pooled accounts and netting arrangements; provided , that in no case shall any such Liens secure (either directly or indirectly) the repayment of any Debt;

(o) leases or subleases granted to others that do not materially interfere with the ordinary course of business of the Borrower or any Subsidiary;

(p) Liens arising from filing Uniform Commercial Code financing statements regarding leases;

(q) Liens on Capital Stock owned by the Borrower or any Restricted Subsidiary in an Unrestricted Subsidiary or a Person that is not a Subsidiary to secure Debt or other obligations of the Unrestricted Subsidiary or Person that issued the Equity Interests;

(r) Liens on property of a Subsidiary (other than on stock of a Subsidiary except to the extent permitted in clause (k) above) securing obligations owing to the Borrower or a Wholly-Owned Wholly Owned Subsidiary;

(s) except as otherwise prohibited by clause (j) or (k) above, Liens securing extensions, renewals or refinancings of the Debt to replace Liens being released in connection with such transaction to the extent the Liens being released were permitted hereunder;

(t) Liens on accounts receivable and related assets (including without limitation, all collateral, guaranties and contracts associated with such accounts receivable, all of the Receivables Entity’s interest in inventory and goods the sale of which gave rise to the accounts receivable, all lockbox or collection accounts related thereto, all records related thereto and all proceeds of the foregoing) securing indebtedness incurred pursuant to a Qualified Receivables Transaction;

(u) Liens on assets subject to any sale and leaseback transaction consummated pursuant to Section 6.7(g);

(v) (x) Liens arising in the ordinary course of business which (i) do not secure Funded Debt, (ii) do not in the aggregate materially detract from the value of the grantor’s assets or materially impair the use thereof in the operation of its business, and (iii) do not secure obligations in an amount exceeding, in the aggregate, $100,000,000 and (y) Liens not described in clause (x) on cash and Cash Equivalents and securities which Liens secure any obligation with respect to letters of credit and which do not secure obligations in an amount exceeding, in the aggregate, $100,000,000.

(w) any Lien on any asset of any Person existing at the time such Person is merged or consolidated with or into the Borrower or a Subsidiary (to the extent any such merger or consolidation is permitted under Section 6.4 and not created in contemplation of such event);

(x) Liens securing Debt permitted to be secured by a Lien in accordance with Section 6.15;

(y) Liens on property of a Subsidiary securing indebtedness of such Subsidiary created, assumed or incurred after the date hereof, the creation, assumption or incurrence of which would not create a Default under Section 6.14;

(z) Liens on securities in connection with securities repurchase and reverse repurchase arrangements that bear only upon the securities involved in the repurchase or reverse repurchase transaction;

(aa) replacements, extension and renewals of any Lien permitted by clause (b), (c), (j) or (k) above upon or in the same property theretofore subject thereto or the replacement, extension or renewal (without increase in the amount or change in any direct or contingent obligor) of the Debt secured thereby); and

(bb) Liens securing Funded Debt referred to in clause (g) of the definition of Permitted Priority Debt . ; and

(cc) Liens on the assets of an Excluded Specified Subsidiary securing the Excluded Specified Debt of such Excluded Specified Subsidiary.

“ Permitted Line of Business ” means a line of business in which the Borrower and the Subsidiaries are permitted to engage pursuant to Section 6.9.

“ Permitted Priority Debt ” means (a) Debt of Qwest Corporation and its Subsidiaries (regardless of when incurred), (b) Debt of the Borrower’s Subsidiaries existing on the Closing First Amendment Effective Date and any Permitted Refinancing Debt in respect thereof, (c) Debt of the Guarantors (excluding any Guaranty of Excluded Specified Debt) , (d) unsecured Debt of any Subsidiary owing to any other Subsidiary or the Borrower, (e) that portion of the capital leases of the Borrower’s Subsidiaries that does not exceed the aggregate principal amount of capital leases of the Borrower’s Subsidiaries on the Closing Date, (f) up to $500,000,000 of Debt, in the aggregate, of one or more Excluded Specified Subsidiaries Debt and (g) Funded Debt of any joint venture, including any joint venture that qualifies as a Subsidiary, in an aggregate amount at any time not to exceed $300,000,000, including Guaranties of such Funded Debt.

“ Permitted Refinancing Debt ” means Debt which represents an extension, refinancing, refunding, replacement or renewal of any other Debt; provided , that (a) the principal amount (or accreted value, if applicable) thereof does not exceed the principal amount (or accreted value, if applicable) of the Debt so extended, refinanced, refunded, replaced or renewed, except by an amount equal to unpaid accrued interest and premium (including applicable prepayment penalties) thereon plus fees and expenses reasonably incurred in connection therewith, (b) any Liens securing such Debt are not extended to any additional property of any Loan Party, (c) no Loan Party that is not originally obligated with respect to repayment of such Debt is required to become obligated with respect thereto, (d) in the case of Debt of Qwest Corporation and its Subsidiaries (other than any such Debt outstanding on the Closing First Amendment Effective Date), such extension, refinancing, refunding, replacement or renewal does not result in any dated amortization prior to October 18, 2019 that is greater or faster than that of the Debt so extended, refinanced, refunded, replaced or renewed and (e) if the Debt that is extended, refinanced, refunded, replaced or renewed was subordinated in right of payment to the Obligations or any Guaranty thereof, then the terms and conditions of the extension, refinancing, refunding, replacement or renewal Indebtedness must include subordination terms and conditions that are at least as favorable to the Lenders as those that were applicable to the extended, refinanced, refunded, replaced or renewed Debt.

“ Person ” means and includes an individual, partnership, joint venture, corporation, trust, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, or other entity, Tribunal, unincorporated organization, or government, or any department, agency, or political subdivision thereof.

“ Plan ” means any employee pension benefit plan (as defined in section (2) of ERISA and subject to the provisions section 412 of the Code or section 302 or Title IV of ERISA) in respect of which any Company or any ERISA Affiliate is (or, if such plan were terminated, would under Section 4062 or 4069 of ERISA be deemed to be) an “employer” or a “substantial employer” as such terms are defined in ERISA.

“ Prime Rate ” is defined in the definition of Base Rate.

“ Prohibited Transaction ” has the meaning assigned to such term in section 406 of ERISA and section 4975(c) of the Code.

“ QCII ” means Qwest Communications International Inc., a Delaware corporation.

“ QC Leverage Ratio ” is defined in Section 6.14(c).

“ Qualified Receivables Transaction ” means any transaction or series of transactions that may be entered into by the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries pursuant to which the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries may sell, convey or otherwise transfer to (a) a Receivables Entity (in the case of a transfer by the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries) or (b) any other Person (in the case of a transfer by a Receivables Entity), or may grant a security interest in, any accounts receivable (whether now existing or arising in the future) of the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries, and any assets related thereto including, without limitation, all collateral securing such accounts receivable, all contracts and all guarantees or other obligations in respect of such accounts receivable, the proceeds of such receivables and other assets which are customarily transferred, or in respect of which security interests are customarily granted, in connection with asset securitization involving accounts receivable.

“ Qwest Corporation ” means Qwest Corporation, a Colorado corporation.

“ Qwest Services ” means Qwest Services Corporation, a Colorado corporation.

“ Qwest Total Funded Debt ” means, as of the date of determination, the aggregate principal amount of all Funded Debt of Qwest Corporation and its Subsidiaries at such date, determined on a consolidated basis in accordance with GAAP.

“ Receivables Entity ” means a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Borrower (to which the Borrower or any Subsidiary transfers accounts receivable and related assets pursuant to a Qualified Receivables Transaction) which engages in no activities other than in connection with the financing of accounts receivable and whose assets consist solely of receivables and related assets transferred to such entity in connection with a Qualified Receivables Transaction:

(a) no portion of the Debt or any other obligations (contingent or otherwise) of which:

(i) is guaranteed by the Borrower or any Subsidiary (excluding guarantees of obligations (other than the principal of, and interest on, Debt) pursuant to Standard Securitization Undertakings);

(ii) is recourse to or obligates the Borrower or any Subsidiary in any way other than pursuant to Standard Securitization Undertakings; or

(iii) subjects any property or asset of the Borrower or any Subsidiary, directly or indirectly, contingently or otherwise, to the satisfaction thereof, other than pursuant to Standard Securitization Undertakings;

(b) with which neither the Borrower nor any Subsidiary has any material contract, agreement, arrangement or understanding (except in connection with a Qualified Receivables Transaction) other than on terms no less favorable to the Borrower or such Subsidiary than those that might be obtained at the time from Persons that are not Affiliates of the Borrower, other than fees payable in the ordinary course of business in connection with servicing accounts receivable; and

(c) to which neither the Borrower nor any Subsidiary has any obligation to maintain or preserve such entity’s financial condition or cause such entity to achieve certain levels of operating results (except pursuant to Standard Securitization Undertakings).

Any designation by the Borrower of a Wholly Owned Subsidiary as a Receivables Entity shall be evidenced to the Administrative Agent by delivering to the Administrative Agent a certificate from a Financial Officer of the Borrower certifying that such designation complied with the foregoing conditions.

“ Register ” is defined in Section 10.18(b)(iv).

“ Regulation D ” means Regulation D of the Board, as the same is from time to time in effect, and all official rulings and interpretations thereunder or thereof.

“ Regulation G ” means Regulation G of the Board, as the same is from time to time in effect, and all official rulings and interpretations thereunder or thereof.

“ Regulation T ” shall mean Regulation T of the Board, as the same is from time to time in effect, and all official rulings and interpretations thereunder or thereof.

“ Regulation U ” shall mean Regulation U of the Board, as the same is from time to time in effect, and all official rulings and interpretations thereunder or thereof.

“ Regulation X ” shall mean Regulation X of the Board, as the same is from time to time in effect, and all official rulings and interpretations thereunder or thereof.

“ Regulatory Change ” means, with respect to any Lender, (a) any adoption or change after the date hereof of or in United States federal, state or foreign Laws (including Regulation D) or guidelines applying to a class of banks including such Lender, (b) the adoption or making after the date hereof of any interpretations, directives or requests applying to a class of banks including such Lender of or under any United States federal, state or foreign Laws or guidelines (whether or not having the force of law) by any Tribunal, monetary authority, central bank, or comparable agency charged with the interpretation or administration thereof, or (c) any change in the interpretation or administration of any United States federal, state or foreign Laws or guidelines applying to a class of banks including such Lender by any Tribunal, monetary authority, central bank, or comparable agency charged with the interpretation or administration thereof; provided that, notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, (i) all requests, rules, guidelines, requirements and directives promulgated by the Bank for International Settlements, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (or any successor or similar authority) or by United States or foreign regulatory authorities, in each case pursuant to Basel III, and (ii) the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and all requests, rules, guidelines, requirements and directives thereunder or issued in connection therewith or in implementation thereof, shall in each case be deemed to be a Regulatory Change, regardless of the date enacted, adopted, issued or implemented.

“ Reorganization ” means, with respect to any Multiemployer Plan, the condition that such plan is in reorganization within the meaning of section 4241 of ERISA.

“ Reportable Event ” means any “reportable event,” as defined in section 4043(c) of ERISA or the regulations issued thereunder, with respect to a Plan, other than those events as to which notice is waived pursuant to Department of Labor Regulation Section 4043 as in effect on the date hereof, no matter how such notice requirement may be changed in the future.

“ Restricted Payment ” means

(a) the declaration or payment of dividends by the Borrower, or distribution (in cash, property, obligations or other securities or any combination thereof) on account of any shares of any class of capital stock of the Borrower,

(b) other payments or distributions by the Borrower whether by reduction of capital or otherwise on account of any shares of any class of capital stock of the Borrower, or

(c) the setting apart of money for a sinking or other analogous fund by the Borrower for the purchase, redemption, retirement or other acquisition of any shares of any class of capital stock of the Borrower, or any warrant, option or other right to acquire any capital stock of the Borrower;

but in each case in (a), (b) and (c) above, excluding dividends or other distributions payable solely in common stock of the Borrower.

“Restricted Subsidiary” means any Subsidiary of the Borrower that is not an Unrestricted Subsidiary.

“ Rights ” means rights, remedies, powers, and privileges.

“ S&P ” means Standard and Poor’s Financial Services LLC.

“ Savvis ” means Savvis, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

“Sanctioned Country” means, at any time, a country or territory which is itself the subject or target of comprehensive Sanctions (at the time of this Agreement, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria).

“Sanctioned Person” means, at any time, (a) any Person listed in any Sanctions-related list of designated Persons maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“OFAC”), the U.S. Department of State, or by the United Nations Security Council, the European Union or any European Union

member state, (b) any Person operating, organized or resident in a Sanctioned Country or (c) any Person owned or controlled by any such Person or Persons described in the foregoing clauses (a) or (b).

“Sanctions” means economic or financial sanctions or trade embargoes imposed, administered or enforced from time to time by (a) the U.S. government, including those administered by OFAC or the U.S. Department of State, or (b) the United Nations Security Council, the European Union, any European Union member state or Her Majesty’s Treasury of the United Kingdom.

“ SCC ” means Savvis Communications Corporation, a Missouri corporation.

“ SEC ” means the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“ Senior Unsecured Long-Term Debt Rating ” means, as of any date, the Debt Rating that has been most recently announced by S&P and Moody’s. In connection with any determination of the Senior Unsecured Long-Term Debt Rating pursuant to the immediately preceding sentence, for purposes of determining the Applicable Margin, (a) if only one of S&P and Moody’s shall have in effect a public debt rating, the Applicable Margin shall be determined by reference to the available rating; (b) if the ratings established by S&P and Moody’s shall fall within different levels, the Applicable Margin shall be based upon the higher rating, except that if the difference is two or more levels, the Applicable Margin shall be based on the rating that is one level below the higher rating; (c) if any rating established by S&P or Moody’s shall be changed, such change shall be effective as of the date on which such change is first announced publicly by the rating agency making such change; (d) if S&P or Moody’s shall change the basis on which ratings are established, each reference to the public debt rating announced by S&P or Moody’s, as the case may be, shall refer to the then equivalent rating by S&P or Moody’s, as the case may be; (e) if neither S&P nor Moody’s shall have in effect a public debt rating but at least one of S&P and Moody’s has in effect a rating for any class of senior secured debt with an original term of longer than one year issued by the Borrower, the Applicable Margin shall be determined by reference to a rating that is one level lower than the rating that has been most recently announced by S&P and Moody’s for such class of debt; and (f) if neither S&P nor Moody’s shall have in effect either a public debt rating or a rating for any class of senior secured debt with an original term of longer than one year issued by the Borrower, the Applicable Margin shall be set in accordance with the lowest level rating and highest percentage rate set forth in the table relating to “Applicable Margin”.

“ Solvent ” means, as to any Person at the time of determination, that (a) the aggregate fair value of such Person’s assets exceeds the present value of its liabilities (whether contingent, subordinated, unmatured, unliquidated, or otherwise), and (b) such Person has sufficient cash flow to enable it to pay its Debts as they mature.

“ Standard Securitization Undertakings ” means representations, warranties, covenants and indemnities entered into by the Borrower or any Subsidiary which are reasonably customary in securitization of accounts receivable transactions (it being understood that in no event shall Standard Securitization Undertakings include any Guaranty in respect of principal or interest on the financing for any Qualified Receivables Transaction).

“ Subsidiary ” means any Person with respect to which the Borrower or any one or more Subsidiaries owns directly or indirectly more than 50% of the issued and outstanding voting stock (or equivalent interests); provided , that any Subsidiary that has been designated as an Unrestricted Subsidiary pursuant to Section 5.12 (and has not subsequently been re-designated as a Subsidiary) shall be deemed not to be a Subsidiary for all purposes of the Loan Papers. Unless the context otherwise requires, all references to “Subsidiary” or to “Subsidiaries” in this Agreement shall refer to a Subsidiary or Subsidiaries of the Borrower.

“ Subsidiary Encumbrance ” is defined in Section 6.14(b).

“ Swap Agreement ” means any agreement with respect to any swap, forward, future or derivative transaction or option or similar agreement involving, or settled by reference to, one or more rates, currencies, commodities, equity or debt instruments or securities, or economic, financial or pricing indices or measures of economic, financial or pricing risk or value or any similar transaction or any combination of these transactions.

“ Taxes ” means all taxes, assessments, fees, or other charges at any time imposed by any Laws or Tribunal.

“ Termination Date ” means April 18, 2019, subject, however, to any extension of Loans pursuant to Section 2.22.

“ Term Percentage ” means the percentage which the aggregate principal amount of such Lender’s Loans then outstanding constitutes of the aggregate principal amount of the Loans then outstanding.

“ Tribunal ” means any municipal, state, commonwealth, federal, foreign, territorial, or other court, governmental body, subdivision, agency, department, commission, board, bureau, or instrumentality.

“ Type ” shall mean any type of Loan (i.e., a Base Rate Loan or LIBOR Loan).

“ United States ” and “ U.S. ” each means United States of America.

“ Unrestricted Subsidiary ” means any Subsidiary of the Borrower designated by the Board of Directors as an Unrestricted Subsidiary pursuant to Section 5.12 after the Closing Date.

“UTCO” means United Telephone Company of Ohio, an Ohio corporation.

“Voting Participant” is defined in Section 10.18(d).

“ Voting Stock ” shall mean securities (as such term is defined in Section 2(1) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended) of any class or classes, the holders of which are ordinarily, in the absence of contingencies, entitled to elect a majority of the corporate directors (or Persons performing similar functions).

“ Wholly Owned Subsidiary ” means, as to any Person, any other Person all of the Capital Stock of which (other than directors’ qualifying shares required by law) is owned by such Person directly and/or through other Wholly Owned Subsidiaries.

“ Withdrawal Liability ” means liability to a Multiemployer Plan as a result of a complete or partial withdrawal from such Multiemployer Plan, as such terms are defined in Title IV of ERISA.

1.2. Accounting Principles.

All accounting and financial terms used in the Loan Papers and not defined in Section 1.1, all accounting terms and financial terms partly defined in Section 1.1, to the extent not defined, and the compliance with each financial covenant therein shall be determined in accordance with GAAP, as modified from time to time by any Accounting Changes (as defined below) (provided that, notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, all terms of an accounting or financial nature used herein shall be construed, and all computations of amounts and ratios referred to herein shall be made, without giving effect to any election under Accounting Standards Codification 825-10-25 (previously referred to as Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 159) (or any other Accounting Standards Codification or Financial Accounting Standard having a similar result or effect) to value any Debt or other liabilities of any Company at “fair value”, as defined therein). In the event that (i) any Accounting Change shall occur, (ii) such change results in a change in the method of calculation of financial covenants, standards or terms in the Loan Papers and (iii) the Borrower determines that such change will create a risk of a Default or an Event of Default, then the Borrower may notify the Administrative Agent that it will not adopt such Accounting Change for purposes of the Loan Papers and that the method of calculation of financial covenants, standards or terms in the Loan Papers shall remain unaffected thereby. “ Accounting Changes ” refers to changes in accounting principles required by the promulgation of any rule, regulation, pronouncement or opinion by the Financial Accounting Standards Board of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants or, if applicable, the SEC.

1.3. Other Definitional Provisions

. As used herein and in the other Loan Papers, (i) the words “include”, “includes” and “including” shall be deemed to be followed by the phrase “without limitation”, (ii) the word “incur” shall be construed to mean incur, create, issue, assume, become liable in respect of or suffer to exist (and the words “incurred” and “incurrence” shall have correlative meanings), (iii) the words “asset” and “property” shall be construed to have the same meaning and effect and to refer to any and all tangible and intangible assets and properties, including cash, capital stock, securities, revenues, accounts, leasehold interests and contract rights, and (iv) references to agreements or other contractual obligations shall, unless otherwise specified, be deemed to refer to such agreements or contractual obligations as amended, supplemented, restated or otherwise modified from time to time.

SECTION 2

FACILITIES.

2.1. Commitments .

Subject to the terms and conditions hereof, each Lender severally agrees to make a term loan (each, a “ Loan ”) to the Borrower on the Closing Date in an amount not to exceed the amount of such Lender’s Commitment. The Loans may from time to time be LIBOR Loans or Base Rate Loans, as determined by the Borrower and notified to the Administrative Agent in accordance with Sections 2.2 and 2.3. The Commitments shall automatically terminate on the Closing Date after the Loans have been made.

2.2. Procedure for Loan Borrowing.

The Borrower shall give the Administrative Agent irrevocable notice (which notice must be received by the Administrative Agent prior to 1:00 P.M., New York City time, (a) three Business Days prior to the Closing Date, in the case of LIBOR Loans, or (b) on the Closing Date, in the case of Base Rate Loans), substantially in the form of Exhibit H, specifying (i) the amount and Type of Loans requested to be borrowed on the Closing Date and (ii) in the case of LIBOR Loans, the respective amounts of each such Type of Loan and the respective lengths of the initial Interest Period therefor. All Loans shall initially be Base Rate Loans unless the Borrower has provided the notice for LIBOR Loans set forth in clause (a) above and has entered into a pre-funding indemnity agreement with respect to such borrowing of LIBOR Loans on the Closing Date in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Administrative Agent ¹ . Upon receipt of any such notice from the Borrower, the Administrative Agent shall promptly notify each Lender thereof. Each Lender will make the amount of Loans to be made by such Lender available to the Administrative Agent for the account of the Borrower at the Funding Office prior to 2:00 P.M., New York City time, on the Closing Date in funds immediately available to the Administrative Agent. Such borrowing will then be made available to the Borrower by the Administrative Agent wiring the money in accordance with instructions from the Borrower with the aggregate of the amounts made available to the Administrative Agent by the Lenders and in like funds as received by the Administrative Agent.

2.3. Repayment of Term Loans

The Loans of each Lender shall be repaid in 29 consecutive quarterly installments, each of which shall be in an amount equal to such Lender’s Term Percentage multiplied by the amount set forth below opposite such installment:



Installment	Principal Amount
June 30, 2012	$5,500,000
September 30, 2012	$5,500,000
December 31, 2012	$5,500,000
March 31, 2013	$5,500,000
June 30, 2013	$5,500,000
September 30, 2013	$5,500,000
December 31, 2013	$5,500,000
March 31, 2014	$5,500,000
June 30, 2014	$5,500,000
September 30, 2014	5,500,000
December 31, 2014	5,500,000
March 31, 2015	5,500,000
June 30, 2015	5,500,000
September 30, 2015	5,500,000
December 31, 2015	5,500,000
March 31, 2016	5,500,000
June 30, 2016	5,500,000
September 30, 2016	5,500,000
December 31, 2016	5,500,000
March 31, 2017	5,500,000
June 30, 2017	5,500,000
September 30, 2017	5,500,000
December 31, 2017	5,500,000
March 31, 2018	5,500,000
June 30, 2018	5,500,000
September 30, 2018	5,500,000
December 31, 2018	5,500,000
March 31, 2019	5,500,000
April 18, 2019	286,000,000

2.4. Conversion and Continuation Options.

(a) The Borrower may elect from time to time to convert LIBOR Loans to Base Rate Loans by giving the Administrative Agent prior irrevocable notice of such election no later than 1:00 P.M., New York City time, on the Business Day preceding the proposed conversion date; provided , that any such conversion of LIBOR Loans may only be made on the last day of an Interest Period with respect thereto (unless the Borrower pays the amount owing pursuant to Section 2.12). The Borrower may elect from time to time to convert Base Rate Loans to LIBOR Loans by giving the Administrative Agent prior irrevocable notice of such election no later than 1:00 P.M., New York City time, on the third Business Day preceding the proposed conversion date (which notice shall specify the length of the initial Interest Period therefor); provided , that no Base Rate Loan may be converted into a LIBOR Loan when any Event of Default has occurred and is continuing and the Administrative Agent or the Majority Lenders have determined in its or their sole discretion not to permit such conversions. Upon receipt of any such notice the Administrative Agent shall promptly notify each relevant Lender thereof.

(b) Any LIBOR Loan may be continued as such upon the expiration of the then current Interest Period with respect thereto by the Borrower giving irrevocable notice to the Administrative Agent, in accordance with the applicable provisions of the term “Interest Period” set forth in Section 1.1, of the length of the next Interest Period to be applicable to such Loans; provided , that no LIBOR Loan may be continued as such when any Event of Default has occurred and is continuing and the Administrative Agent has or the Majority Lenders have determined in its or their sole discretion not to permit such continuations; provided , further , that if the Borrower shall fail to give any required notice as described above in this paragraph or if such continuation is not permitted pursuant to the preceding proviso such Loans shall be automatically converted to Base Rate Loans on the last day of such then expiring Interest Period. Upon receipt of any such notice the Administrative Agent shall promptly notify each relevant Lender thereof.

2.5. Fees .

The Borrower agrees to pay to the Administrative Agent the fees in the amounts and on the dates previously agreed to in writing by the Borrower and the Administrative Agent.

2.6. Limitations on Eurodollar Tranches.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, all borrowings, conversions and continuations of LIBOR Loans and all selections of Interest Periods shall be in such amounts and be made pursuant to such elections so that, (a) after giving effect thereto, the aggregate principal amount of the LIBOR Loans comprising each Eurodollar Tranche shall be equal to $5,000,000 or a whole multiple of $1,000,000 in excess thereof and (b) no more than ten Eurodollar Tranches shall be outstanding at any one time.

2.7. Interest Rates and Payment Dates.

(a) Each LIBOR Loan shall bear interest for each day during each Interest Period with respect thereto at a rate per annum equal to the LIBOR Rate determined for such day plus the Applicable Margin.

(b) Each Base Rate Loan shall bear interest at a rate per annum equal to the Base Rate plus the Applicable Margin.

(c) (i) If all or a portion of the principal amount of any Loan shall not be paid when due (whether at the stated maturity, by acceleration or otherwise), all outstanding Loans shall bear interest at a rate per annum equal to the rate that would otherwise be applicable thereto pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this Section plus 2%, and (ii) if all or a portion of any interest payable on any Loan or any fee or other amount payable hereunder shall not be paid when due (whether at the stated maturity, by acceleration or otherwise), such overdue amount shall bear interest at a rate per annum equal to the rate then applicable to Base Rate Loans plus 2%, in each case, with respect to clauses (i) and (ii) above, from the date of such non‑payment until such amount is paid in full (as well after as before judgment).

(d) Interest shall be payable in arrears on each Interest Payment Date; provided , that interest accruing pursuant to paragraph (c) of this Section shall be payable from time to time on demand.

2.8. Alternate Rate of Interest for LIBOR Loans.

In the event, and on each occasion, that on the day two Business Days prior to the commencement of any Interest Period for a LIBOR Loan, the Administrative Agent shall have determined that dollar deposits in the amount of the requested principal amount of such LIBOR Loan are not generally available in the London interbank market, or that dollar deposits are not generally available in the London interbank market for the requested Interest Period, or that the rate at which such dollar deposits are being offered will not adequately and fairly reflect the cost to any Lender of making or maintaining such LIBOR Loan during such Interest Period, or that reasonable means do not exist for ascertaining the LIBOR Rate, the Administrative Agent shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, give telecopy notice of such determination, stating the specific reasons therefor, to the Borrower and the Lenders. In the event of any such determination, any request by the Borrower for a LIBOR Loan shall, until the circumstances giving rise to such notice no longer exist, be deemed to be a request for a Base Rate Loan. Each determination by the Administrative Agent hereunder shall be conclusive absent manifest error.

2.9. Mandatory and Optional Prepayment of Loans.

(a) Prior to the Termination Date, the Borrower shall have the right at any time to prepay the Loans, in whole or in part, subject to the requirements of Sections 2.12 and 2.13 but otherwise without premium or penalty, but prepayment of LIBOR Loans shall require at least three Business Days prior written notice to the Administrative Agent; provided , however , that each such partial prepayment shall be in an integral multiple of $1,000,000 and in a minimum aggregate principal amount of $2,000,000. Each notice of prepayment, with respect to LIBOR Loans, shall specify the prepayment date and the aggregate principal amount of each Borrowing to be prepaid and may be revocable; provided , that (i) such notice is only revocable during the three Business Day period beginning on the date that such notice is given to the Administrative Agent and ending on the stated date of such prepayment and (ii) the Borrower shall indemnify the Lenders pursuant to Section 2.12 as a result of the Borrower’s revocation of such notice.

(b) All Loans, together with accrued and unpaid interest thereon, shall be due and payable in full on the Termination Date.

(c) All prepayments of Loans (other than optional prepayments of Base Rate Loans) under this Section 2.9 shall be accompanied by accrued interest on the principal amount being prepaid to the date of prepayment.

2.10. Reserve Requirements; Change in Circumstances.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision herein, if after the Closing Date any Regulatory Change (i) subjects any Lender to any Taxes (other than (x) Non-Excluded Taxes or Taxes described in clause (i) or (ii) of the first sentence in Section 2.19(a) or (y) any Tax that would not have been imposed but for the failure of any Lender to comply with any certification, information, documentation, or other reporting requirement if such Lender could legally comply and such compliance would not materially prejudice such Lender’s legal or commercial position) on its loans, loan principal or other obligations, or its deposits, reserves, other liabilities or capital attributable thereto, (ii) shall impose, modify, or deem applicable any reserve, special deposit, or similar requirement with respect to any LIBOR Loan (or participating interest therein), against assets of, deposits with or for the account of, or credit extended by, such Lender under this Agreement, or (iii) with respect to any LIBOR Loan, shall impose on such Lender or the London interbank market any other condition affecting this Agreement or any LIBOR Loan made by such Lender, and the result of any of the foregoing shall be to increase the cost to such Lender of making or maintaining any LIBOR Loan or to reduce the amount of any sum received or receivable by such Lender hereunder (whether of principal, interest, or otherwise) in respect thereof by an amount deemed in good faith by such Lender to be material, then the Borrower shall pay to the Administrative Agent for the account of such Lender such additional amount or amounts as will compensate such Lender for such increase or reduction to such Lender, to the extent such amounts have not been included in the calculation of the LIBOR Rate, upon demand by such Lender (through the Administrative Agent).

(b) If any Lender shall have determined in good faith that any Regulatory Change regarding capital or liquidity requirements or compliance by any Lender (or its Parent or any lending office of such Lender) with any request or directive regarding capital or liquidity requirements (whether or not having the force of Law) of any Tribunal, monetary authority, central bank, or comparable agency, has or would have the effect of reducing the rate of return on such Lender’s (or its Parent’s) capital as a consequence of its obligations hereunder to a level below that which such Lender (or its Parent) could have achieved but for such Regulatory Change, or compliance (taking into consideration such Lender’s policies with respect to capital and liquidity requirements) by an amount deemed in good faith by such Lender to be material, then from time to time, the Borrower shall pay to the Administrative Agent for the account of such Lender such additional amount or amounts as will compensate such Lender for such reduction upon demand by such Lender (through the Administrative Agent).

(c) A certificate of a Lender setting forth in reasonable detail (i) the Regulatory Change or other event giving rise to such costs, (ii) such amount or amounts as shall be necessary to compensate such Lender as specified in paragraph (a) or (b) above, as the case may be, (iii) the calculation of such amount or amounts under clause (a) or (b) above, shall be delivered to the Borrower (with a copy to the Administrative Agent) promptly after such Lender determines it is entitled to compensation under this Section 2.10, and shall be conclusive and binding absent manifest error and (iv) confirmation from such Lender that such costs are also being assessed to other similarly situated borrowers. The Borrower shall pay to the Administrative Agent for the account of such Lender the amount shown as due on any such certificate within 15 days after its receipt of the same; provided that the Borrower shall not be required to pay the Administrative Agent for the account of such Lender pursuant to this Section 2.10 for any amount specified in clause (a) or (b) above in respect of a period occurring more than 180 days prior to the date on which such Lender notifies the Borrower of such Regulatory Change and such Lender’s intention to claim compensation therefor, except, if the Regulatory Change giving rise to any amount specified in clause (a) or (b) above is retroactive, no such time limitation shall apply so long as such Lender requests compensation within 180 days from the date on which the applicable Tribunal informed such Lender of such Regulatory Change. In preparing such certificate, such Lender may employ such assumptions and allocations of costs and expenses as it shall in good faith deem reasonable and may use any reasonable averaging and attribution method.

(d) The protection of this Section 2.10 shall be available to each Lender regardless of any possible contention of invalidity or inapplicability of the law, regulation, or condition which shall have been imposed.

(e) Without prejudice to the survival of any other obligations of the Borrower hereunder, the obligations of the Borrower under this Section 2.10 shall survive for one year after the termination of this Agreement and/or the payment or assignment of any of the Loans or Notes.

2.11. Change in Legality.

(a) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein contained, if any Regulatory Change shall make it unlawful for any Lender to make or maintain any LIBOR Loan or to give effect to its obligations as contemplated hereby, then, by written notice to the Borrower and to the Administrative Agent, such Lender may:

(i) declare that LIBOR Loans will not thereafter be made by such Lender hereunder, whereupon the Borrower shall be prohibited from requesting LIBOR Loans from such Lender hereunder unless such declaration is subsequently withdrawn; and

(ii) if such unlawfulness shall be effective prior to the end of any Interest Period of an outstanding LIBOR Loan, require that all outstanding LIBOR Loans with such Interest Periods made by it be converted to Base Rate Loans, in which event (A) all such LIBOR Loans shall be automatically converted to Base Rate Loans as of the effective date of such notice as provided in paragraph (b) below and (B) all payments and prepayments of principal which would otherwise have been applied to repay the converted LIBOR Loans shall instead be applied to repay the Base Rate Loans resulting from the conversion of such LIBOR Loans.

(b) For purposes of this Section 2.11, a notice to the Borrower (with a copy to the Administrative Agent) by any Lender pursuant to paragraph (a) above shall be effective on the date of receipt thereof by the Borrower.

2.12. Indemnity.

The Borrower agrees to indemnify each Lender for, and to hold each Lender harmless from, any loss or expense that such Lender may sustain or incur as a consequence of (a) default by the Borrower in making a borrowing of, conversion into or continuation of LIBOR Loans after the Borrower has given a notice requesting the same in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, (b) default by the Borrower in making any prepayment of or conversion from LIBOR Loans after the Borrower has given a notice thereof in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement or (c) the making of a prepayment of LIBOR Loans on a day that is not the last day of an Interest Period with respect thereto. Such indemnification may include an amount equal to the excess, if any, of (i) the amount of interest that would have accrued on the amount so prepaid, or not so borrowed, converted or continued, for the period from the date of such prepayment or of such failure to borrow, convert or continue to the last day of such Interest Period (or, in the case of a failure to borrow, convert or continue, the Interest Period that would have commenced on the date of such failure) in each case at the applicable rate of interest for such Loans provided for herein (excluding, however, the Applicable Margin included therein, if any) over (ii) the amount of interest (as reasonably determined by such Lender) that would have accrued to such Lender on such amount by placing such amount on deposit for a comparable period with leading banks in the interbank eurodollar market. A certificate as to any amounts payable pursuant to this Section 2.12 submitted to the Borrower by any Lender shall be conclusive in the absence of manifest error. This covenant shall survive the termination of this Agreement and the payment of the Loans and all other amounts payable hereunder.

2.13. Pro Rata Treatment.

Unless otherwise specifically provided herein, each payment or prepayment of principal and each payment of interest with respect to a Borrowing shall be made pro rata among the Lenders in accordance with the respective principal amounts of the Loans extended by each Lender with respect to such Borrowing, and conversions of Loans to Loans of another Type and continuations of Loans that are LIBOR Loans from one Interest Period, shall be made pro rata among the Lenders in accordance with their respective Term Percentages.

2.14. Sharing of Setoffs.

Each Lender agrees that if it shall, through the exercise of a right of banker’s lien, setoff, or counterclaim against the Borrower, including, but not limited to, a secured claim under Section 506 of Title 11 of the United States Code or other security or interest arising from, or in lieu of, such secured claim, received by such Lender under any applicable Debtor Relief Law or otherwise, obtain payment (voluntary or involuntary) in respect of the Loans held by it (other than pursuant to Section 2.10 or 2.12) as a result of which the unpaid principal portion of the Loans held by it shall be proportionately less than the unpaid principal portion of the Loans held by any other Lender, it shall be deemed to have simultaneously purchased from such other Lender a participation in the Loans held by such other Lender, so that the aggregate unpaid principal amount of the Loans and participations in Loans held by each Lender shall be in the same proportion to the aggregate unpaid principal amount of all Loans then outstanding as the principal amount of the Loans held by it prior to such exercise of banker’s lien, setoff, or counterclaim was to the principal amount of all Loans outstanding prior to such exercise of banker’s lien, setoff, or counterclaim; provided , however , that if any such purchase or purchases or adjustments shall be made pursuant to this Section 2.14 and the payment giving rise thereto shall thereafter be recovered, such purchase or purchases or adjustments shall be rescinded to the extent of such recovery and the purchase price or prices or adjustment restored without interest. The Borrower expressly consents to the foregoing arrangements and agrees that any Lender holding a participation in Loans deemed to have been so purchased may, upon the existence of an Event of Default, exercise any and all rights of banker’s lien, setoff, or counterclaim with respect to any and all moneys owing by the Borrower to such Lender as fully as if such Lender had made a Loan directly to the Borrower in the amount of such participation.

2.15. Payments.

(a) All payments (including prepayments) to be made by the Borrower hereunder, whether on account of principal, interest, fees or otherwise, shall be made without setoff or counterclaim and shall be made prior to 1:00 P.M., New York City time, on the due date thereof to the Administrative Agent, for the account of the Lenders, at the Funding Office, in Dollars and in immediately available funds. The Administrative Agent shall distribute such payments to each relevant Lender promptly upon receipt in like funds as received, net of any amounts owing by such Lender pursuant to Section 9.7. If any payment hereunder (other than payments on the LIBOR Loans) becomes due and payable on a day other than a Business Day, such payment shall be extended to the next succeeding Business Day. If any payment on a LIBOR Loan becomes due and payable on a day other than a Business Day, the maturity thereof shall be extended to the next succeeding Business Day unless the result of such extension would be to extend such payment into another calendar month, in which event such payment shall be made on the next preceding Business Day. In the case of any extension of any payment of principal pursuant to the preceding two sentences, interest thereon shall be payable at the then applicable rate during such extension.

(b) Unless the Administrative Agent shall have been notified in writing by any Lender prior to the borrowing that such Lender will not make the amount that would constitute its share of such borrowing available to the Administrative Agent, the Administrative Agent may assume that such Lender is making such amount available to the Administrative Agent, and the Administrative Agent may, in reliance upon such assumption, make available to the Borrower a corresponding amount. If such amount is not made available to the Administrative Agent by the required time on the Closing Date therefor, such Lender shall pay to the Administrative Agent, on demand, such amount with interest thereon, at a rate equal to the greater of (i) the Federal Funds Effective Rate and (ii) a rate determined by the Administrative Agent in accordance with banking industry rules on interbank compensation, for the period until such Lender makes such amount immediately available to the Administrative Agent. A certificate of

the Administrative Agent submitted to any Lender with respect to any amounts owing under this paragraph shall be conclusive in the absence of manifest error. If such Lender’s share of such borrowing is not made available to the Administrative Agent by such Lender within three Business Days after such Closing Date, the Administrative Agent shall also be entitled to recover such amount with interest thereon at the rate per annum applicable to Base Rate Loans, on demand, from the Borrower.

(c) Unless the Administrative Agent shall have been notified in writing by the Borrower prior to the date of any payment due to be made by the Borrower hereunder that the Borrower will not make such payment to the Administrative Agent, the Administrative Agent may assume that the Borrower is making such payment, and the Administrative Agent may, but shall not be required to, in reliance upon such assumption, make available to the Lenders their respective pro rata shares of a corresponding amount. If such payment is not made to the Administrative Agent by the Borrower within three Business Days after such due date, the Administrative Agent shall be entitled to recover, on demand, from each Lender to which any amount which was made available pursuant to the preceding sentence, such amount with interest thereon at the rate per annum equal to the daily average Federal Funds Effective Rate. Nothing herein shall be deemed to limit the rights of the Administrative Agent or any Lender against the Borrower.

2.16. Calculation of LIBOR Rate.

The provisions of this Agreement relating to calculation of the LIBOR Rate are included only for the purpose of determining the rate of interest or other amounts to be paid hereunder that are based upon such rate, it being understood that each Lender shall be entitled to fund and maintain its funding of all or any part of a LIBOR Loan as it sees fit. All such determinations hereunder, however, shall be made as if each Lender had actually funded and maintained funding of each LIBOR Loan through the purchase in the London interbank market of one or more eurodollar deposits, in an amount equal to the principal amount of such Loan and having a maturity corresponding to the Interest Period for such Loan.

2.17. Computation of Interest and Fees.

(a) Interest and fees payable pursuant hereto shall be calculated on the basis of a 360-day year for the actual days elapsed, except that, with respect to Base Rate Loans the rate of interest on which is calculated on the basis of the Prime Rate, such calculations shall be made on the basis of a 365- (or 366-, as the case may be) day year for the actual days elapsed. The Administrative Agent shall as soon as practicable notify the Borrower and the relevant Lenders of each determination of a LIBOR Rate. Any change in the interest rate on a Loan resulting from a change in the Base Rate or the Eurocurrency Reserve Requirements shall become effective as of the opening of business on the day on which such change becomes effective. The Administrative Agent shall as soon as practicable notify the Borrower and the relevant Lenders of the effective date and the amount of each such change in interest rate.

(b) Each determination of an interest rate by the Administrative Agent pursuant to any provision of this Agreement shall be conclusive and binding on the Borrower and the Lenders in the absence of manifest error. The Administrative Agent shall, at the request of the Borrower, deliver to the Borrower a statement showing the quotations used by the Administrative Agent in determining any interest rate pursuant to Section 2.7(a).

2.18. Booking Loans.

Any Lender may make, carry, or transfer Loans at, to, or for the account of any of its branch offices, subject to Section 2.21(a).

2.19. Taxes.

(a) All payments made by or on account of any obligation of any Loan Party under this Agreement or any other Loan Paper shall be made free and clear of, and without deduction or withholding for or on account of, any present or future income, stamp or other taxes, levies, imposts, duties, charges, fees, deductions or withholdings, now or hereafter imposed, levied, collected, withheld or assessed by any Tribunal, excluding (i) income or franchise taxes imposed on (or measured by) net income, in each case, imposed on the Administrative Agent or any Lender as a result of a present or former connection between the Administrative Agent or such Lender and the jurisdiction of the Tribunal imposing such tax or any political subdivision or taxing authority thereof or therein (other than any such connection arising solely from the Administrative Agent or such Lender having executed, delivered or performed its obligations or received a payment under, or enforced, this Agreement or any other Loan Paper) and (ii) any United States federal withholding tax imposed by reason of FATCA as a result of a Lender’s failure to comply with the requirements thereof to establish an exemption from withholding thereunder. If any such non-excluded taxes, levies, imposts, duties, charges, fees, deductions or withholdings (“ Non-Excluded Taxes ”) or Other Taxes are required to be withheld from any amounts payable to the Administrative Agent or any Lender hereunder or under any other Loan Paper, the amounts so payable to the Administrative Agent or such Lender shall be increased to the extent necessary to yield to the Administrative Agent or such Lender (after payment of all Non-Excluded Taxes and Other Taxes) interest or any such other amounts payable hereunder at the rates or in the amounts specified in this Agreement as if such deduction or withholding had not been made, provided , however , that the Borrower shall not be required to increase any such amounts payable to any Lender with respect to any Non-Excluded Taxes (x) that are attributable to such Lender’s failure to comply with the requirements of paragraph (d) or (e) of this Section or (y) that are United States federal withholding taxes imposed on amounts payable to such Lender at the time such Lender becomes a party to this Agreement, except to the extent that such Lender’s assignor (if any) was entitled, at the time of assignment, to receive additional amounts from the Borrower with respect to such Non-Excluded Taxes pursuant to this paragraph.

(b) In addition, the Loan Party shall pay any Other Taxes to the relevant Tribunal in accordance with applicable Law.

(c) Whenever any Non-Excluded Taxes or Other Taxes are payable by a Loan Party, as promptly as possible thereafter the Borrower shall send to the Administrative Agent for its own account or for the account of the relevant Lender, as the case may be, a certified copy of an original official receipt received by the Loan Party showing payment thereof. If (i) a Loan Party fails to pay any Non-Excluded Taxes or Other Taxes when due to the appropriate taxing authority or , (ii) a Loan Party fails to remit to the Administrative Agent the required receipts or other required documentary evidence, or (iii) any Non-Excluded Taxes or Other Taxes are imposed directly upon the Administrative Agent or any Lender, the Loan Parties shall jointly and severally indemnify the Administrative Agent and the Lenders for such amounts and any incremental taxes, interest or penalties that may become payable by the Administrative Agent or any Lender as a result of any such failure , in the case of (i) and (ii), or any such direct imposition, in the case of (iii) .

(d) Each Lender (or transferee) that is a “United States Person” as defined in Section 7701(a)(30) of the Code shall deliver to the Borrower and the Administrative Agent on or before the date on which it becomes a party to this Agreement two properly completed and duly executed copies of U.S. Internal Revenue Service Form W-9 (or any successor form) certifying that such Lender is exempt from U.S. federal backup withholding tax. Each Lender (or transferee) that is not a “United States Person” as defined in Section 7701(a)(30) of the Code (a “ Non-U.S. Lender ”) shall deliver to the Borrower and the Administrative Agent (or, in the case of a Participant, to the Lender from which the related participation shall have been purchased) (i) two copies of either U.S. Internal Revenue Service Form W-8 BEN BEN-E , Form W-8ECI, or Form W-8IMY (together with any applicable underlying IRS forms) properly completed and duly executed claiming complete exemption from, or a reduced rate of, U.S.

federal withholding tax on all payments by the Borrower under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers, (ii) in the case of a Non-U.S. Lender claiming exemption from U.S. federal withholding tax under Section 871(h) or 881(c) of the Code with respect to payments of “portfolio interest”, a statement substantially in the form of Exhibit G and a Form W-8 BEN BEN-E , or any subsequent versions thereof or successors thereto, properly completed and duly executed by such Non-U.S. Lender claiming complete exemption from, or a reduced rate of, U.S. federal withholding tax on all payments by the Borrower under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers, or (iii) any other form prescribed by applicable requirements of U.S. federal income tax law as a basis for claiming exemption from or a reduction in U.S. federal withholding tax duly completed together with such supplementary documentation as may be prescribed by applicable requirements of Law to permit the Borrower and the Administrative Agent to determine the withholding or deduction required to be made. Such forms shall be delivered by each Non-U.S. Lender on or before the date it becomes a party to this Agreement (or, in the case of any Participant, on or before the date such Participant purchases the related participation). In addition, each Non-U.S. Lender shall deliver such forms promptly upon the obsolescence or invalidity of any form previously delivered by such Non-U.S. Lender. Each Non-U.S. Lender shall promptly notify the Borrower and the Administrative Agent at any time it determines that it is no longer in a position to provide any previously delivered certificate to the Borrower (or any other form of certification adopted by the U.S. taxing authorities for such purpose). Notwithstanding any other provision of this clause, a Non-U.S. Lender shall not be required to deliver any form pursuant to this clause that such Non-U.S. Lender is not legally able to deliver.

(e) A Lender that is entitled to an exemption from or reduction of non-U.S. withholding tax under the Law of the jurisdiction in which the Borrower is located, or any treaty to which such jurisdiction is a party, with respect to payments under this Agreement shall deliver to the Borrower (with a copy to the Administrative Agent), at the time or times prescribed by applicable Law or reasonably requested by the Borrower or the Administrative Agent, such properly completed and executed documentation prescribed by applicable Law as will permit such payments to be made without withholding or at a reduced rate; provided , that such Lender is legally entitled to complete, execute and deliver such documentation and in such Lender’s judgment such completion, execution or submission would not materially prejudice the legal or commercial position of such Lender.

(f) To the extent required by any applicable Law, the Administrative Agent may withhold from any payment to any Lender an amount equivalent to any applicable withholding Tax. If the Internal Revenue Service or any other Tribunal asserts a claim that the Administrative Agent did not properly withhold Tax from amounts paid to or for the account of any Lender because the appropriate form was not delivered or was not properly executed or because such Lender failed to notify the Administrative Agent of a change in circumstance which rendered the exemption from, or reduction of, withholding Tax ineffective or for any other reason, such Lender shall indemnify the Administrative Agent fully for all amounts paid, directly or indirectly, by the Administrative Agent as Tax or otherwise, including any penalties or interest and together with all expenses (including legal expenses, allocated internal costs and out-of-pocket expenses) incurred. Each Lender hereby authorizes the Administrative Agent to set off and apply any and all amounts at any time owing to such Lender under any Loan Paper or otherwise payable by the Administrative Agent to the Lender from any other source against any amount due to the Administrative Agent under this paragraph (f).

(g) If the Administrative Agent or any Lender determines, in its sole discretion, that it has received a refund of any Non-Excluded Taxes or Other Taxes as to which it has been indemnified by any Loan Party or with respect to which any Loan Party has paid additional amounts pursuant to this Section 2.19, it shall pay over such refund to the applicable Loan Party (but only to the extent of indemnity payments made, or additional amounts paid, by such Loan Party under this Section 2.19 with respect to the Non-Excluded Taxes or Other Taxes giving rise to such refund), net of all out-of-pocket expenses of the Administrative Agent or such Lender and without interest (other than any interest paid by the relevant Tribunal with respect to such refund); provided , that the Loan Party, upon the request of the Administrative Agent or such Lender, agrees to repay the amount paid over to such Loan Party (plus any penalties, interest or other charges imposed by the relevant Tribunal) to the Administrative Agent or such Lender in the event the Administrative Agent or such Lender is required to repay such refund to such Tribunal. This clause shall not be construed to require the Administrative Agent or any Lender to make available its tax returns (or any other information relating to its taxes which it deems confidential) to any Loan Party or any other Person.

(h) For purposes of determining withholding Taxes imposed under FATCA, from and after the First Amendment Effective Date, the Loan Parties and the Administrative Agent shall treat (and the Lenders hereby authorize the Administrative Agent to treat) any Loan, Loan Paper or obligation under any Loan Paper as not qualifying as a “grandfathered obligation” within the meaning of Treasury Regulation Section 1.1471-2(b)(2)(i).

( h i ) The agreements in this Section 2.19 shall survive the termination of this Agreement and the payment of the Loans and all other amounts payable hereunder.

2.20. Defaulting Lenders

. Notwithstanding any provision of this Agreement to the contrary, if any Lender becomes a Defaulting Lender, then, for so long as such Lender is a Defaulting Lender, the Loan of such Defaulting Lender shall not be included in determining whether the Majority Lenders have taken or may take any action hereunder (including any consent to any amendment, waiver or other modification pursuant to Section 10.14); provided , that (a) such Defaulting Lender’s outstanding Loans may not be increased or extended without its consent and (b) the principal amount of, or interest or fees payable on, Loans may not be reduced or excused or the scheduled date of payment may not be postponed as to such Defaulting Lender without such Defaulting Lender’s consent.

2.21. Mitigation Obligations; Replacement of Lenders.

(a) If any Lender requests compensation under Section 2.10 or gives notice regarding Regulatory Changes affecting LIBOR Loans under Section 2.11, or if the Borrower is required to pay any additional amount to any Lender or any Tribunal for the account of any Lender pursuant to Section 2.19, then such Lender shall use reasonable efforts to designate a different lending office for funding or booking its Loans hereunder, assign its rights and obligations hereunder to another of its offices, branches or affiliates, or otherwise modify its practices relating to the Loans, if, in the reasonable judgment of such Lender, such designation, assignment or modification (i) would eliminate or reduce amounts payable pursuant to Section 2.10 or 2.19 or eliminate any unlawfulness contemplated by Section 2.11 with respect to LIBOR Loans, as the case may be, in the future and (ii) is not otherwise materially disadvantageous to such Lender.

(b) If any Lender requests compensation under Section 2.10 or gives notice regarding Regulatory Changes affecting LIBOR Loans under Section 2.11, or if the Borrower is required to pay any additional amount to any Lender or any Tribunal for the account of any Lender pursuant to Section 2.19, or if any Lender becomes a Defaulting Lender or if any Lender does not consent to any proposed amendment, supplement, modification, consent or waiver of any provision of this Agreement or any other Loan Paper that requires the consent of each of the Lenders or each of the Lenders affected thereby (so long as the consent of the Majority Lenders has been obtained) , then the Borrower may, at its sole expense and effort (except in the case of a Defaulting Lender), upon notice to such Lender and the Administrative Agent, require such Lender to assign and delegate, without recourse (in accordance with and subject to the restrictions contained in Section 10.18), all its interests, rights and obligations under this Agreement to an assignee that shall assume such obligations (which assignee may be another Lender, if a

Lender accepts such assignment); provided that (i) the Borrower shall have received the prior written consent of the Administrative Agent, which consent shall not unreasonably be withheld, (ii) such Lender shall have received payment of an amount equal to the outstanding principal of its Loans, accrued interest thereon, accrued fees and all other amounts payable to it hereunder, from the assignee (to the extent of such outstanding principal and accrued interest and fees) or the Borrower (in the case of all other amounts) and (iii) in the case of any such assignment resulting from a claim for compensation under Section 2.10 or payments required to be made pursuant to Section 2.19, such assignment will result in a reduction in such compensation or payments. A Lender shall not be required to make any such assignment and delegation if, prior thereto, as a result of a waiver by such Lender or otherwise, the circumstances entitling the Borrower to require such assignment and delegation cease to apply. Each party hereto agrees that an assignment required pursuant to this clause may be effected pursuant to an Assignment and Assumption executed by the Borrower, the Administrative Agent and the assignee and that the Lender required to make such assignment need not be a party thereto.

2.22. Extensions of Loans.

(a) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, pursuant to one or more offers (each, an “ Extension Offer ”) made from time to time by the Borrower to all Lenders, in each case on a pro rata basis (based on the aggregate outstanding principal amounts of the Loans with a like maturity date) and on the same terms to each such Lender, the Borrower is hereby permitted to consummate from time to time transactions with individual Lenders that accept the terms contained in such Extension Offers to extend the maturity date of each such Lender’s Loans and otherwise modify the terms of such Loans pursuant to the terms of the relevant Extension Offer (including by increasing the interest rate or fees payable in respect of such Loans) (each, an “ Extension ”, and each Loan, as so extended, as well as the original Loan (in each case not so extended), being a “tranche”; and any Extended Loans shall constitute a separate tranche of Loans from the tranche of Loans from which they were converted), so long as the following terms are satisfied:

(i) no Default or Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing at the time the offering document in respect of an Extension Offer is delivered to the Lenders,

(ii) except as to interest rates , fees , amortization, and final maturity (which shall be determined by the Borrower and set forth in the relevant Extension Offer), the Loans of any Lender that agrees to an Extension with respect to such Loans (“ Extended Loans ”), shall be a Loan with the same terms (or terms not less favorable to existing Lenders) as the original Loans; provided that (x) all repayments (except for (A) payments of interest at different rates on Extended Loans, (B) repayments required upon the maturity date of the non-extending Loans and (C) repayments made in connection with a prepayment) of Extended Loans after the applicable Extension date shall be made on a pro rata basis with all other Loans and ( z y ) at no time shall there be Loans hereunder (including Extended Loans and any original Loans) that have more than two different maturity dates,

(iii) all documentation in respect of such Extension shall be consistent with the foregoing and

(iv) any applicable Minimum Extension Condition shall be satisfied.

(b) With respect to all Extensions consummated by the Borrower pursuant to this Section 2.22, (i) such Extensions shall not constitute voluntary or mandatory payments or prepayments for purposes of Sections 2.9, or 2.13 and (ii) the Borrower shall specify as a condition (a “ Minimum Extension Condition ”) to consummating any such Extension that a minimum amount (except as provided below, to be determined and specified in the relevant Extension Offer in the Borrower’s sole discretion and waivable by the Borrower) of Loans of any or all applicable tranches be tendered; provided , that in any event, the Minimum Extension Condition shall require that, after giving effect to a particular Extension, a majority of the aggregate Loans outstanding shall constitute Extended Loans pursuant thereto, and such requirement may not be waived by the Borrower. The Administrative Agent and the Lenders hereby consent to the transactions contemplated by this Section 2.22 (including, for the avoidance of doubt, payment of any interest, fees or premium in respect of any Extended Loans on such terms as may be set forth in the relevant Extension Offer) and hereby waive the requirements of any provision of this Agreement (including Sections 2.9 and 2.13) or any other Loan Paper that may otherwise prohibit any such Extension or any other transaction contemplated by this Section 2.22.

(c) No consent of any Lender or the Administrative Agent shall be required to effectuate any Extension, other than the consent of each Lender agreeing to such Extension with respect to its Loans (or a portion thereof). Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Agreement, the Lenders hereby irrevocably authorize the Administrative Agent to enter into amendments to this Agreement and the other Loan Papers with the Borrower as may be necessary in order to establish new tranches or sub-tranches in respect of Loans and such technical amendments as may be necessary or appropriate in the reasonable opinion of the Administrative Agent and the Borrower in connection with the establishment of such new tranches or sub-tranches, in each case on terms consistent with this Section 2.22.

(d) In connection with any Extension, the Borrower shall provide the Administrative Agent at least five Business Days’ (or such shorter period as may be agreed by the Administrative Agent) prior written notice thereof, and shall agree to such procedures (including regarding timing, rounding and other adjustments and to ensure reasonable administrative management of the credit facilities hereunder after such Extension), if any, as may be established by, or acceptable to, the Administrative Agent, in each case acting reasonably to accomplish the purposes of this Section 2.22.

2.23. Change of Control.

If a Change of Control shall occur, the Borrower shall, within ten days after the occurrence thereof, give each Lender notice thereof, which notice shall describe in reasonable detail the facts and circumstances giving rise thereto and shall specify an Optional Termination Date for purposes of this Section (the “ Optional Termination Date ”), which date shall not be less than 30 nor more than 60 days after the date of such notice. Each Lender may, by notice to the Borrower and the Administrative Agent given not less than three Business Days prior to the Optional Termination Date, declare the Loan held by it (together with accrued interest thereon) and any other amounts payable hereunder for its account to be, and such Loan and such other amounts shall thereupon become, due and payable without presentment, demand, protest or other notice of any kind, all of which are hereby waived by the Borrower, in each case effective on the Optional Termination Date (each Lender giving such notice, an “ Exiting Lender ”; each other Lender a “ Non-Exiting Lender ”). Notwithstanding the foregoing, if any condition specified in Section 4.2 cannot be satisfied on the Optional Termination Date such Change of Control shall be deemed to be an Event of Default.

For the purpose of this Section, a “ Change of Control ” shall be deemed to have occurred if:

(a) a third person, including a “group” as defined in Section 13(d)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “ Exchange Act ”), but excluding any employee benefit plan or plans of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries and Affiliates, becomes the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of 30% or more of the combined voting power of the Borrower’s outstanding voting securities ordinarily having the right to vote for the election of directors of the Borrower; or

(b) the individuals who, as of December 31, 2011 2014 constituted the Board of Directors of the Borrower (the “ Board of Directors ” generally and as of December 31, 2011 2014 the “ Incumbent Board ”) cease for any reason to constitute at least a majority of the Board of Directors, or in the case of a merger or consolidation of the Borrower, do not constitute or cease to constitute at least a majority of the board of directors of the surviving company (or in a case where the surviving corporation is controlled, directly or indirectly, by another corporation or entity do not constitute or cease to constitute at least a majority of the board of such controlling corporation or do not have or cease to have at least a majority of voting seats on any body comparable to a board of directors of such controlling entity or, if there is no body comparable to a board of directors, at least a majority of voting control of such controlling entity); provided , that any person becoming a director (or, in the case of a controlling non-corporate entity, obtaining a position comparable to a director or obtaining a voting interest in such entity) subsequent to December 31, 2011 2014 , whose election, or nomination for election, was approved by a vote of the persons comprising at least a majority of the Incumbent Board (other than an election or nomination of an individual whose initial assumption of office is in connection with an actual or threatened election contest, as such terms are used in Rule 14a-11 of Regulation 14A promulgated under the Exchange Act) shall be, for purposes of this Agreement, considered as though such person were a member of the Incumbent Board.

SECTION 3

REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES.

The Borrower represents and warrants to the Administrative Agent and the Lenders as follows:

3.1. Purpose of Credit Facility; Federal Regulation.

The proceeds of the Loans shall be used for the working capital needs and general corporate purposes of the Companies. The proceeds loaned hereunder will not be used directly or indirectly for any purpose which violates, or which would be inconsistent with, the provisions of the Regulations of the Board, including Regulations T, U or X. No Company is engaged in or will engage, principally or as one of its important activities in the business of extending credit to others for the purpose of purchasing or carrying any Margin Stock.

3.2. Corporate Existence, Good Standing, and Authority.

(a) Each Company is, to the best of the Borrower’s knowledge, duly organized, validly existing, and in good standing under the Laws of its jurisdiction of organization (such jurisdictions with respect to existing Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries, being identified on Schedule 3.3 and, with respect to future Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries, being identified in the quarterly reporting as required by Section 5.3(k)).

(b) Except where failure would not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect, each Company (i) is duly qualified to transact business and is in good standing as a foreign corporation or other organization in each jurisdiction where the nature and extent of its business and properties require the same, and (ii) possesses all requisite authority, power, licenses, permits, and franchises to own and operate its property and to conduct its business as is now being, or is contemplated herein to be, conducted.

(c) Each Loan Party possesses all requisite authority, power, licenses, permits, and franchises to execute, deliver, and comply with the terms of the Loan Papers to which it is a party, and, in the case of the Borrower, to obtain extensions of credit hereunder. Each Loan Party has taken all necessary corporate action to authorize the execution, delivery and performance of the Loan Papers to which it is a party and, in the case of the Borrower, to authorize the extensions of credit on the terms and conditions of this Agreement, except where failure, individually or in the aggregate, would not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

(d) No consent or authorization of, filing with, notice to or other act by or in respect of any Person or Tribunal is required in connection with this Agreement, the extensions of credit hereunder or with the execution, delivery, performance, validity or enforceability of this Agreement or any of the Loan Papers, except consents, authorizations, filings and notices (i) which have been obtained or made and are in full force and effect or (ii) the failure of which to obtain or make, would not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

3.3. Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries.

Except as provided in the last sentence of this Section, Schedule 3.3 sets forth all existing Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries of the Borrower and correctly lists, as to each Guarantor Significant Subsidiary, (a) its name and (b) its jurisdiction of organization. Except as provided in the last sentence of this Section, the shares of capital stock of each Guarantor Significant Subsidiary owned by the Borrower (either directly or indirectly through another Subsidiary) as set forth on Schedule 3.3 are the duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid, and nonassessable shares of such Guarantor Significant Subsidiary and are owned by the Borrower free and clear of all Liens except Permitted Liens. Any future Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries will be included in the quarterly reporting as required by Section 5.3(k).

3.4. Financial Statements; No Change.

(a) The Current Financials were prepared in accordance with GAAP and present fairly the consolidated financial condition and the results of operations of the Companies as of, and for the periods ended, the dates thereof. There were no material (to the Companies taken as a whole) liabilities, direct or indirect, fixed or contingent, of any Company as of the date of the Current Financials which are required to be reflected in the Current Financials but are not reflected therein. No Company has incurred any material (to the Companies taken as a whole) liability, direct or indirect, fixed or contingent, between the dates of the Current Financials and the date hereof, except in the ordinary course of business, such as in connection with acquisitions and financing activities.

(b) Since December 31, 2011 through the Closing Date, there has been no development or event that has had or could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

3.5. Compliance with Laws, Charter, and Agreements.

No Company is, nor will the execution, delivery, performance, or observance of the Loan Papers cause any Company to be, in violation of any Laws, including the Patriot Act, or any Material Agreements to which it is a party, other than such violations which would not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. No Company is, nor will the execution, delivery, performance, or observance of the Loan Papers cause any Company to be, in violation of its bylaws, charter or other organizational or governing document.

3.6. Litigation.

Except as described in the Borrower’s SEC filings, or as otherwise disclosed to the Lenders, no Company is aware of any Material Litigation, and there are no Material outstanding or unpaid judgments against any Company. “Material” for purpose of this Section 3.6 in relation to Litigation would include any actions or proceedings pending or threatened against any Company before any court or Tribunal as to which there is a reasonable possibility of an adverse determination seeking damages, net of insurance proceeds to the Company, in excess of the greater of $250,000,000 or 1% of Consolidated Net Worth in the aggregate, or which might result in any Material Adverse Effect.

3.7. Taxes.

All Tax returns of each Company required to be filed have been filed (or extensions have been granted) except where the failure to do so could not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect, and all Taxes imposed upon each Company which are shown to be due and payable thereon have been paid other than Taxes for which the criteria for Permitted Liens have been satisfied and Taxes being contested in good faith by proper proceedings and with respect to which such Company shall have, to the extent required by GAAP, set aside on its books adequate reserves.

3.8. Environmental Matters.

No Company’s ownership of its assets violates any applicable Environmental Law, other than such violations which would not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. To the Borrower’s knowledge, no investigation or review is pending or threatened by any Tribunal with respect to any alleged violation of any Environmental Law in connection with any Company’s assets which could result in a Material Adverse Effect. None of any Company’s assets have been used by such Company or, to the Borrower’s knowledge, any other Person as a dump site for any Hazardous Substance except where such use would not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.

3.9. Employee Benefit Plans.

Except as could not reasonably be expected, individually or in the aggregate, to have a Material Adverse Effect, (a) no Plan has failed to comply with any provisions of the Code or ERISA (and the applicable regulations under either) or with the terms of such Plan; (b) no Plan has failed to meet the minimum funding standards (within the meaning of section 412 of the Code or section 302 or ERISA) applicable to such Plan, whether or not waived, no application for a waiver of the minimum funding standard with respect to any Plan has been filed pursuant to section 412(c) of the Code or section 302(c) of ERISA, and no Plan has received a determination that it is, or is expected to be, in a “at risk” status (within the meaning of section 430 of the Code or section 303 of ERISA; (c) no Company or ERISA Affiliate has incurred, or reasonably expects to incur, liability to the PBGC in connection with any Plan; (d) no Company or ERISA Affiliate has withdrawn in whole or in part from participation in a Plan or Multiemployer Plan or received notice from any Multiemployer Plan with respect to the imposition of Withdrawal Liability or that such Multiemployer Plan is, or is expected to be Insolvent, in Reorganization, “terminated” (within the meaning of section 4041A of ERISA), or in “endangered” or “critical” status (within the meaning of section 432 of the Code or section 305 of ERISA); and (e) to the best of the Borrower’s knowledge, no non-exempt Prohibited Transaction and no Reportable Event has occurred, and no insured medical plan sponsored by any Company for any current or former employee(s) has failed to satisfy the non-discrimination requirements of section 105 of the Code.

3.10. Properties; Liens.

Each Company has good and marketable title (except for Permitted Liens) to its property reflected on the Current Financials as being owned (except for (a) dispositions of property subsequent to the date of the Current Financials and prior to the Closing Date, in the ordinary course of business or (b) dispositions of property following the Closing Date, otherwise permitted hereunder). Except for Permitted Liens, there is no Lien on any property of any Company, and the execution, delivery, performance, or observance of the Loan Papers will not require or result in the creation of any Lien other than Permitted Liens.

3.11. Investment Company Status.

No Loan Party is (a) a “ public utility ” within the meaning of the Federal Power Act, as amended, (b) an “ investment company ” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, (c) an “ investment adviser ” within the meaning of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, or (d) directly subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission or any public service commission.

3.12. Transactions with Affiliates.

Except as disclosed on Schedule 3.12, no Company is a party to a Material transaction with any of its Affiliates (a) prior to the Closing Date other than transactions in the ordinary course of business and upon fair and reasonable terms not materially less favorable than such Company could obtain or could become entitled to in an arm’s-length transaction with a Person that was not its Affiliate and other than transactions between or among entities each of which is either the Borrower or a Wholly Owned Subsidiary or (b) after the Closing Date in violation of Section 6.6. For purposes of this Section 3.12, such transactions are “ Material ” if they, individually or in the aggregate, require any Company to pay more than the greater of $250,000,000 or 1% of Consolidated Net Worth over the course of such transactions.

3.13. Leases.

All material leases under which any Company is lessee or tenant are in full force and effect, and no default or potential default exists thereunder which could result in a Material Adverse Effect.

3.14. Labor Matters.

There are no actual or, to the Borrower’s knowledge, threatened strikes, labor disputes, slow downs, walkouts, or other concerted interruptions of operations by any Company’s employees, the effect of which would have a Material Adverse Effect.

3.15. Insurance.

Each Company maintains with financially sound insurance companies or associations (or, as to workers’ compensation or similar insurance, with an insurance fund or by self-insurance authorized by the jurisdictions in which it operates) insurance concerning its properties and businesses against such casualties and contingencies and of such types and in such amounts (and with co-insurance and deductibles) as is customary in the case of same or similar businesses; provided , however , a program of self-insurance in such amounts and against such risks as are prudent and which is consistent with accepted business practice shall constitute compliance with this Section 3.15.

3.16. Solvency.

The Companies, collectively, are, and after giving effect to the transactions contemplated under the Loan Papers will be, Solvent.

3.17. Business.

The business of the Borrower as conducted on the Closing Date , is set forth on Schedule 3.17. The business of the Borrower, as proposed to be conducted is set forth in Section 6.9.

3.18. General.

All writings exhibited or delivered to the Administrative Agent by or on behalf of any Company are and will be genuine and in all material respects what they purport and appear to be.

3.19. No Default

. No Company is in default under or with respect to any Material Agreement to which it is a party in any respect that could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. On each date on which an extension of credit is made hereunder, no Default or Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing or would result from the making of such extension of credit.

3.20. OFAC ; Anti-Corruption Laws . No

(a) None of any Company nor, in each case to the knowledge of the Borrower, any director, officer, agent, employee or , controlled Affiliate of the Borrower or any Subsidiary, or any agent of the Borrower that will act in any capacity in connection with or benefit from any facility established hereby , nor any other Person of which the Borrower owns 50% or more of the issued and outstanding equity interests, is currently the subject of any U.S. sanctions program administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department (“ OFAC ”) (it being understood that a person is not considered to be the subject of such a sanctions program simply because it has been fined for a violation thereof) a Sanctioned Person ; and the Borrower will not directly or indirectly use the proceeds of the Loans or otherwise make available such proceeds to any Person (including, without limitation, any Investment permitted pursuant to Section 6.5), for the purpose of financing the activities of, transactions with or acquiring an interest in any Person currently the subject of any U.S. s S anctions program administered by OFAC , except to the extent licensed or otherwise approved by OFAC or not in violation of Anti-Corruption Laws, in each case, as applicable .

(b) The Borrower has implemented and maintains in effect policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance by the Borrower, its Subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents with Anti-Corruption Laws and applicable Sanctions, and the Borrower, its Subsidiaries and their respective officers, employees, directors and agents are in compliance with Anti-Corruption Laws and applicable Sanctions in all material respects. No Borrowing, use of proceeds or other transaction contemplated by the Agreement will violate Anti-Corruption Laws.

SECTION 4

CONDITIONS PRECEDENT.

4.1. Closing Date.

The occurrence of the Closing Date is subject to the receipt by the Administrative Agent of all of the following in form and substance satisfactory to the Administrative Agent and its special counsel:

The following conditions were satisfied as of April 18, 2012:

(a) Loan Papers . (i) This Agreement, executed and delivered by the Administrative Agent and the Borrower, (ii) the Guarantee Agreement, executed and delivered by each Guarantor, (iii) a Note payable to each Lender and (iv) the Current Financials.

(b) Secretary’s Certificates . A certificate dated as of the date hereof, substantially in the form of Exhibit F, executed and delivered by each Loan Party, certifying that (i) attached is a true, correct, and complete copy of (A) such Loan Party’s charter, certified by the appropriate state official and dated a Current Date, (B) such Loan Party’s bylaws, and (C) resolutions of such Loan Party’s board of directors authorizing the execution and delivery of each Loan Paper to which such Loan Party is a party and (ii) the officers whose specimen signatures appear on such certificate hold the corporate office indicated and are authorized to sign agreements, documents, and instruments on behalf of such Loan Party.

(c) Good Standing, Existence, and Authority . Certificates (dated a Current Date) relating to each Loan Party’s existence, good standing, and authority to transact business issued by appropriate state officials.

(d) Opinions of Borrower’s Counsel . The favorable opinions, dated the Closing Date and substantially in the form of Exhibit B of:

(i) Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrere & Denegre, L.L.P., special counsel to the Borrower;

(ii) Stacey Goff, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the Borrower; and

(iii) Arthur J. Saltarelli, Associate General Counsel of the Borrower concerning QSC.

(e) Officer’s Certificate . A certificate, dated the Closing Date and signed by the President, a Vice President or a Financial Officer of the Borrower, confirming compliance, as of the Closing Date, with the conditions set forth in paragraphs (a) and (b) of Section 4.2.

(f) Fees and Expenses . Payment from the Borrower of all fees then due the Administrative Agent, the Lead Arranger, the Lenders, and counsel to the Lead Arranger and Administrative Agent pursuant to this Agreement or any other agreement.

(g) Financial Statements . The Lenders shall have received (i) audited consolidated financial statements of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries for the 2009, 2010 and 2011 fiscal years and (ii) audited consolidated financial statements for each of QCII and Savvis and their respective subsidiaries for the 2009 and 2010 fiscal years .

(h) Solvency Certificate . The Lenders shall have received a certificate from the chief financial officer of the Borrower certifying that each Loan Party is, and after giving effect to this Agreement and the incurrence of all Debt and obligations being incurred in connection herewith, will be and will continue to be, Solvent.

(i) Ratings . The Borrower shall have obtained Senior Unsecured Long-Term Debt Ratings from each of Moody’s and S&P.

(j) Patriot Act . The Lenders shall have received, with respect to such documents and other information requested in writing at least five business days prior to the Closing Date, all documentation and other information required by regulatory authorities under applicable “know your customer” and anti-money laundering rules and regulations, including the Patriot Act.

(k) Other . Such other agreements, documents, instruments, opinions, certificates, and evidences as the Administrative Agent may reasonably request.

(l) Closing of Revolving Credit Facility . Evidence satisfactory to the Administrative Agent that the Borrower’s senior revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association as administrative agent shall (A) have closed and become effective on or prior to the Closing Date, (B) be documented by a revolving credit agreement (the “ Revolving Credit Agreement ”) that contains representations and warranties, covenants and events of default substantially identical to those contained in Articles III, V, VI and VII herein; provided that such Revolving Credit Agreement shall not contain the covenant contained in Section 5.15 hereof, notwithstanding the presence of such covenant in this Agreement and (C) reflect an aggregate commitment amount of at least $1,700,000,000.

4.2. Conditions to Funding.

In addition, the Lenders will not be obligated to fund the Loans unless at the time of such funding (a) the representations and warranties made in the Loan Papers are true and correct in all material respects at such time (except that (i) any representations and warranties that speak to a specific date shall be true and correct in all material respects as of such specific date and (ii) any representations and warranties that are qualified by “Material Adverse Effect” or other materiality language shall be true and correct in all respects at such time), (b) no Default or Event of Default shall have occurred and shall be continuing, (c) the funding of such Loans are is permitted by Law, and (d) if requested by the Administrative Agent or the Majority Lenders, the Borrower shall have delivered to the Administrative Agent evidence substantiating any of the matters contained in this Agreement which are necessary to enable the Borrower to qualify for such Loans.

The borrowing of the Loans on the Closing Date by the Borrower hereunder shall constitute a representation and warranty by the Borrower as of the Closing Date that the conditions contained in this Section 4.2 shall have been satisfied.

4.3. Materiality of Conditions.

Each condition precedent herein is material to the transactions contemplated herein, and time is of the essence in respect of each thereof.

4.4. Waiver of Conditions.

Subject to the provisions of Section 10.14, the Majority Lenders may elect to fund the Loans without all conditions being satisfied.

SECTION 5

AFFIRMATIVE COVENANTS.

So long as any Loan or other amount is owing to any Lender or the Administrative Agent hereunder, the Borrower covenants and agrees with the Administrative Agent and the Lenders as follows:

5.1. Use of Proceeds.

Proceeds of Loans advanced hereunder shall be used only as represented herein.

5.2. Books and Records.

Each Company shall maintain, in accordance with GAAP, proper and complete books, records, and accounts which are necessary to prepare the financial statements required to be delivered hereunder.

5.3. Items to be Furnished.

The Borrower shall cause the following to be furnished to the Administrative Agent and each Lender (through the Administrative Agent):

(a) Promptly after preparation, and no later than 90 days after the last day of each fiscal year of the Borrower, Financial Statements showing the consolidated financial condition and results of operations of the Companies as of, and for the year ended on, such last day, accompanied by (i) the opinion of KPMG LLP (or another firm of nationally-recognized independent certified public accountants reasonably acceptable to Majority Lenders), based on an audit using generally accepted auditing standards, that such Financial Statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP and present fairly the consolidated financial condition and results of operations of the Companies (and such accountants shall indicate in a letter to the Administrative Agent, that during their audit no Default or Event of Default not already reported was discovered or, if such Default or Event of Default was discovered, the nature and period of existence thereof) and (ii) a Financial Report Certificate with respect to such Financial Statements.

(b) Promptly after preparation, and no later than 45 days after the last day of each of the first three quarters of each fiscal year of the Borrower, (i) Financial Statements showing the consolidated financial condition and results of operations of the Companies as of, and for the period from the beginning of the current fiscal year to, such last day, and (ii) a Financial Report Certificate with respect to such Financial Statements.

(c) Promptly after preparation (and no later than the later of 15 days (a) after such filing is due or (b) after timely filing, if filed with the SEC), true copies of all regular and periodic reports, proxy statements and filings on Form 8-K furnished by or on behalf of any Company to stockholders generally or filed with the SEC. However, only registration statements covering more than 2% of the Borrower’s outstanding shares of common stock shall be required to be furnished unless specifically requested by the Administrative Agent.

(d) Promptly upon receipt thereof, copies of any notices received from any Tribunal (including, without limitation, state regulatory agencies) relating to the possible violation or violation of any Law which might have a Material Adverse Effect.

(e) Notice, promptly after the Borrower knows or has reason to know of, (i) the existence of any material Litigation as defined in Section 3.6, (ii) any material change in any material fact or circumstance represented or warranted in any Loan Paper, or (iii) a Default or Event of Default, specifying the nature thereof and what action the Borrower or any other Company has taken, is taking, or proposes to take with respect thereto.

(f) Notice, promptly after the Borrower knows or has reason to know of, a Subsidiary Encumbrance, as defined in Section 6.14(b), except with respect to Permitted Refinancing Debt.

(g) Within 10 days after execution thereof, copies of any supplements, modifications or amendments to the Equity Units documentation.

(h) Promptly upon the Administrative Agent’s or any Lender’s reasonable request, such information (not otherwise required to be furnished under the Loan Papers) respecting the business affairs, assets, and liabilities of any Company, and any opinions, certifications, and documents, in addition to those mentioned herein.

(i) Promptly following receipt thereof, copies of any documents described in sections 101(k) or 101(l) of ERISA that any Company or any ERISA Affiliate may request with respect to any Multiemployer Plan or documents described in Section 101(f) of ERISA that any Company or any ERISA Affiliate may request with respect to any Plan; provided , that if the Companies or any of their ERISA Affiliates have not requested such documents or notices from the administrator or sponsor of the applicable Multiemployer Plan, then, upon reasonable request of the Administrative Agent, the Companies and/or their ERISA Affiliates shall promptly make a request for such documents or notices from such administrator or sponsor and the Borrower shall provide copies of such documents and notices to the Administrative Agent promptly after receipt thereof.

(j) Notice, promptly after any Company or ERISA Affiliate knows or has reason to know of, (i) the failure of any Plan to comply with any material provisions of ERISA and/or the Code (and applicable regulations under either) or with the material terms of such Plan; (ii) the failure of any Plan to meet the minimum funding standards (within the meaning of Section 412 of the Code or section 302 of ERISA) applicable to such Plan (whether or not waived), the filing pursuant to section 412(c) of the Code or section 302(c) of ERISA of an application for a waiver of the minimum funding standard with respect to any Plan, or the receipt by any Plan of a determination that it is, or is expected to be in “at risk” status (within the meaning of section 430 of the Code or Section 303 of ERISA; (iii) the incurrence by any Company or ERISA Affiliate of liability to the PBGC in connection with any Plan; (iv) the withdrawal (in whole or in part) by any Company or ERISA Affiliate from participation in a Plan or Multiemployer Plan or receipt by any Company or ERISA Affiliate of notice from any Multiemployer Plan with respect to the imposition of Withdrawal Liability or that such Multiemployer Plan is, or is expected to be Insolvent, in Reorganization, “terminated” (within the meaning of section 4041A of ERISA), or in “endangered” or “critical” status (within the meaning of section 432 of the Code or section 305 of ERISA); (v) the occurrence of a non-exempt Prohibited Transaction or a Reportable Event (excluding any Reportable Event that occurs solely as a result of the consummation of this Agreement); or (vi) the failure of any insured medical plan sponsored by any Company for any current or former employee(s) to satisfy the non-discrimination requirements of section 105 of the Code.

(k) Concurrently with the delivery of any Financial Statements pursuant to clause (a) or (b) above, a list of the Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries as of the last day of the relevant fiscal period.

(l) Notice, promptly after the Borrower knows or has reason to know of the acquisition of one or more Excluded Specified Subsidiaries.

Financial statements, opinions of independent certified public accountants, other information and officers’ certificates required to be delivered by the Borrower pursuant to Sections 3.4 and 5.3 shall be deemed to have been delivered if any of the following, to the extent applicable, are satisfied: (i) such financial statements satisfying the requirements of Sections 3.4 and 5.3 and related certificate satisfying the requirements of Section 5.3 are delivered to the Lenders by e-mail, (ii) the Borrower shall have timely filed such Form 10-Q or Form 10-K, satisfying the requirements of Section 5.3 as the case may be, with the SEC on “EDGAR” and shall have made such form and the related certificate satisfying the requirements of Section 5.3 available on the Investor Relations portion of its home page on the worldwide web (at the Closing First Amendment Effective Date located at http://www.centurylink.com ), (iii) such financial statements satisfying the requirements of Section 5.3 are timely posted by or on behalf of the Company on SyndTrak Online, IntraLinks or on any other similar website to which each Lender has free access or (iv) the Borrower shall have filed any of the items referred to in Section 5.3 with the SEC on “EDGAR” and shall have made such items available on the Investor Relations portion of its home page on the worldwide web or if any of such items are timely posted by or on behalf of the Borrower on IntraLinks or on any other similar website to which each Lender has free access; provided , however , that upon request of any Lender, the Borrower will

thereafter deliver written copies of such forms, financial statements, other information and certificates to such Lender.

5.4. Inspection.

The Borrower shall allow the Administrative Agent and each Lender, when the Administrative Agent or such Lender reasonably deems necessary, at such Lender’s own expense if no Default then exists, to inspect any of its properties, to review reports, files, and other records and to make and take away copies thereof, to conduct tests or investigations, and to discuss any of its affairs, conditions, and finances with any director, officer, or employee of any Company from time to time, upon reasonable notice during reasonable business hours, or otherwise when reasonably considered necessary.

5.5. Taxes.

The Borrower shall promptly pay, or cause to be paid, when due any Taxes of each Company, except those which if unpaid would not have a Material Adverse Effect, Taxes for which the criteria for Permitted Liens have been satisfied and Taxes being contested in good faith by proper proceedings and with respect to which the Borrower shall have, to the extent required by GAAP, set aside on its books, or caused to be set aside on the books of the relevant Company, adequate reserves. No Company shall use any proceeds of Loans to pay the wages of employees unless a timely payment to or deposit with the United States of America of all amounts of Tax required to be deducted and withheld with respect to such wages is also made.

5.6. Payment of Obligations.

Each Company shall promptly pay (or renew and extend) all of its material obligations as the same become due except those being contested in good faith by proper proceedings and with respect to which such Company shall have, to the extent required by GAAP, set aside on its books adequate reserves, but no Company will make any voluntary prepayment of the principal of any Funded Debt other than the Obligation, whether subordinate to the Obligation or not, if a Default or Event of Default exists under any Loan Paper.

5.7. Expenses.

The Borrower shall promptly pay (a) all reasonable and necessary out-of-pocket costs, fees, and expenses paid or incurred by the Administrative Agent incident to any Loan Paper (including, but not limited to, the reasonable fees and expenses of counsel to the Administrative Agent in connection with the syndication, negotiation, preparation, delivery, execution and administration of the Loan Papers and any related amendment, waiver, or consent); and (b) all reasonable and customary out-of-pocket costs, fees and expenses paid or incurred by the Administrative Agent and any of the Lenders in connection with the enforcement of the obligations of any Company or the exercise of any Rights (including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees and expenses and court costs), all of which shall be a part of the Obligation. This covenant shall survive the termination of this Agreement and the payment of the Loans and all other amounts payable hereunder.

5.8. Maintenance of Existence, Assets, Business, and Insurance.

Except as permitted by Section 6.4, each Company shall at all times (a) maintain its corporate existence and authority to transact business, (b) maintain its good standing in its jurisdiction of incorporation or organization and all other jurisdictions where the failure to so maintain could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect, (c) maintain all licenses, permits, and franchises necessary for its business, where the failure to so maintain could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect, (d) keep all of its assets which are necessary to its business in good working order and condition (ordinary wear and tear excepted), and make all necessary repairs and replacements thereto, where the failure to so keep and repair could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect, and (e) maintain either (i) insurance with such insurers, in such amounts, and covering such risks, as shall be ordinary and customary in the industry or (ii) a comparable self-insurance program.

5.9. Preservation and Protection of Rights.

Each Company shall perform such acts and duly authorize, execute, acknowledge, deliver, file, and record any additional agreements, documents, instruments, and certificates as the Administrative Agent may reasonably deem necessary or appropriate in order to preserve and protect the Rights of the Administrative Agent or the Lenders under any Loan Paper.

5.10. Environmental Laws.

Each Company shall conduct its business so as to comply with all applicable Environmental Laws and shall promptly take corrective action to remedy any non‑compliance with any Environmental Law, except where failure to so comply or take such action would not reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. Each Company shall maintain a system which, in its reasonable business judgment, will assure its continued compliance with Environmental Laws in all material respects.

5.11. Environmental Indemnification.

The Borrower shall indemnify, protect, and hold each Indemnified Party harmless from and against any and all liabilities, obligations, losses, damages, penalties, actions, judgments, suits, claims, proceedings, costs, expenses (including, without limitation, all reasonable attorneys’ fees and legal expenses whether or not suit is brought), and disbursements of any kind or nature whatsoever which may at any time be imposed on, incurred by, or asserted against such Indemnified Parties, with respect to or as a direct or indirect result of the violation by any Company of any Environmental Law; or with respect to or as a direct or indirect result of any Company’s generation, manufacture, production, storage, release, threatened release, discharge, disposal or presence in connection with its properties of a Hazardous Substance including, without limitation, (a) all damages of any such use, generation, manufacture, production, storage, release, threatened release, discharge, disposal, or presence, or (b) the costs of any required or necessary environmental investigation, monitoring, repair, cleanup, or detoxification and the preparation and implementation of any closure, remedial, or other plans. The provisions of and undertakings and indemnification set forth in this paragraph shall survive the satisfaction and payment of the Obligation and termination of this Agreement for a period of time set forth in the statute of limitations in any applicable Environmental Law.

5.12. Designation of Unrestricted Subsidiaries

. The board of directors of the Borrower may at any time designate any Subsidiary as an Unrestricted Subsidiary or any Unrestricted Subsidiary as a Subsidiary; provided , that (a) immediately before and after such designation, no Default or Event of Default shall have occurred and be continuing, (b) immediately after giving effect to such designation, the Loan Parties shall be in compliance, on a pro forma basis, with the covenants set forth in Section 6.14 (and, as a condition precedent to the effectiveness of any such designation, the Borrower shall deliver to the Administrative Agent a certificate setting forth in reasonable detail the calculations demonstrating such compliance), (c) no Guarantor may be designated as an Unrestricted Subsidiary, (d) no Unrestricted Subsidiary may at any time G g uarant y ee any Funded Debt of any Company, (e) no Unrestricted Subsidiary that has been designated as a Subsidiary may be subsequently designated as an Unrestricted Subsidiary and (f) Qwest Corporation may not be designated an Unrestricted Subsidiary. The designation of any Subsidiary as an Unrestricted Subsidiary shall constitute an Investment by the Borrower or the relevant Subsidiary therein at the date of designation in an amount equal to the net book value of such Person’s investment therein. The designation of any Unrestricted Subsidiary as a Subsidiary shall constitute the incurrence at the time of designation of any Debt of such Subsidiary existing at such time.

5.13. Additional Guarantors

. With respect to any Person that becomes a Wholly Owned Subsidiary that is a Guarantor Significant Subsidiary after the Closing Date (which for purposes of this Section shall exclude any Unrestricted Subsidiary, any Excluded Regulated Subsidiary and any Excluded Specified Subsidiary, in each case unless such Subsidiary ceases to qualify as such) or any Company that either (i) enters into a Guaranty with respect to Funded Debt of the Borrower or (ii) becomes jointly and severally liable for the Funded Debt of the Borrower, to promptly (a) cause such Person or Company, as the case may be, to become a party to the Guarantee Agreement and (b) deliver to the Administrative Agent satisfactory legal opinions and other documentation comparable to the documentation delivered in respect of the Guarantors on the Closing Date. Additionally, the Borrower may, in its sole discretion, add any Subsidiary as a Guarantor under this Agreement by causing such Subsidiary to comply with subsections (a) and (b) above.

5.14. Guarantor Release

. In the event that the Borrower obtains a Debt Rating of at least Baa3 (or the equivalent) by Moody’s and a Debt Rating of at least BBB- (or the equivalent) by S&P (in each case, with at least stable outlook), each Guarantor shall cease to be a Guarantor under this Agreement and any other Loan Papers (notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein) and the Borrower’s obligations under Section 5.13 shall cease, provided that at such time the aggregate principal amount (without duplication) of (i) all Debt of the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries secured by Liens permitted by clause (b), (c), (j), (k), (r) (to the extent such Liens are incurred pursuant to clause (r) by a Loan Party in favor of a party that is not a Loan Party), (s), (t), (w), (x), (y) or (aa) of the definition of “Permitted Liens” plus (ii) all Funded Debt of Subsidiaries of the Borrower, whether or not secured (but without duplication), does not exceed 15% of Consolidated Tangible Assets determined as of the end of the most recent fiscal quarter for which Financial Statements of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries are available. Borrower is in compliance with Section 6.15(b).

5.15. CoBank Equity

. (a) So long as CoBank is a Lender hereunder, the Borrower will acquire equity in CoBank in such amounts and at such times as CoBank may require in accordance with CoBank’s Bylaws and Capital Plan (as each may be amended from time to time), except that the maximum amount of equity that the Borrower may be required to purchase in CoBank in connection with the Loans made by CoBank may not exceed the maximum amount permitted by the Bylaws and the Capital Plan on the Closing Date. The Borrower acknowledges receipt of a copy of (i) CoBank’s most recent annual report, and if more recent, CoBank’s latest quarterly report, (ii) CoBank’s Notice to Prospective Stockholders and (iii) CoBank’s Bylaws and Capital Plan, which describe the nature of all of the Borrower’s stock and other equities in CoBank acquired in connection with its patronage loan

from CoBank (the “ CoBank Equities ”) as well as capitalization requirements, and agrees to be bound by the terms thereof.

(b) Each party hereto acknowledges that CoBank’s Bylaws and Capital Plan (as each may be amended from time to time) shall govern (x) the rights and obligations of the parties with respect to the CoBank Equities and any patronage refunds or other distributions made on account thereof or on account of the Borrower’s patronage with CoBank, (y) the Borrower’s eligibility for patronage distributions from CoBank (in the form of CoBank Equities and cash) and (z) patronage distributions, if any, in the event of a sale of a participation interest. CoBank reserves the right to assign or sell participations in all or any part of its Commitments or outstanding Loans hereunder on a non-patronage basis.

(c) Each party hereto agrees that neither the CoBank Equities nor any accrued patronage shall be offset against the Obligations except that, in the event an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, CoBank may elect, solely at its discretion, to apply the cash portion of any patronage distribution or retirement of equity to amounts due under this Agreement. The Borrower acknowledges that any corresponding tax liability associated with such application is the sole responsibility of the Borrower. CoBank shall have no obligation to retire the CoBank Equities upon any Event of Default, Default or any other default by the Borrower or any other Loan Party, or at any other time, either for application to the Obligations or otherwise.

5.16. Compliance with Anti-Corruption Laws, Sanctions

. The Borrower will maintain in effect and enforce policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance by the Borrower, its Subsidiaries and their respective directors, officers, employees and agents with Anti-Corruption Laws and Sanctions to the extent such Anti-Corruption Laws and Sanctions are applicable to the respective business or operations of the Borrower or its Subsidiaries.

SECTION 6

NEGATIVE COVENANTS.

So long as any Loan or other amount is owing to any Lender or the Administrative Agent hereunder, the Borrower covenants and agrees with the Administrative Agent and the Lenders as follows:

6.1. Employee Benefit Plans.

No Company or ERISA Affiliate will, directly or indirectly, if it would have a Material Adverse Effect, (a) engage in any non-exempt Prohibited Transaction, (b) permit any failure of the minimum funding requirements under the Code or ERISA with respect to any Plan or fail to make any required contribution to a Multiemployer Plan, (c) permit any Plan to be subject to involuntary termination proceedings, (d) permit any Plan to fail to comply with any provisions of ERISA and/or the Code (and applicable regulations under either) or with the material terms of such Plan; (e) fully or partially withdraw from any Plan or Multiemployer Plan; or (f) permit any insured medical plan sponsored by such Company on behalf of any current or former employee(s) to fail to satisfy the non-discrimination requirements of section 105 of the Code.

6.2. Liens.

Neither the Borrower nor any of its Subsidiaries will create, incur or suffer or permit to be created or incurred or to exist any Lien (other than Permitted Liens) upon its assets unless the Obligations then outstanding shall be secured by such Lien equally and ratably with any and all obligations and indebtedness secured by such Lien. For purposes of this Section 6.2, any liens securing the senior revolving credit facility between the Borrower and Wells Fargo Bank, National Association or any refinancing thereof or any agreement that has the effect of re-evidencing, replacing or refinancing the Debt originally incurred thereunder shall not constitute Permitted Liens.

6.3. Restricted Payments.

The Borrower will not directly or indirectly make or declare any Restricted Payment unless no Default or Event of Default has occurred and is continuing or would result from such Restricted Payment.

6.4. Mergers and Consolidations.

No Company will merge or consolidate with any Person other than:

(a) any merger or consolidation where the Borrower (or another Company, if the Borrower is not a party thereto) is the surviving corporation;

(b) any merger of any Subsidiary into another Company;

(c) any merger of a Subsidiary into another Person (other than the Borrower) if after such merger the surviving entity becomes a Subsidiary;

(d) any sale of assets permitted by Section 6.7 that is structured as a merger or consolidation;

(e) any Subsidiary that is not a Guarantor Significant Subsidiary may liquidate or dissolve if the Borrower determines in good faith that such liquidation or dissolution is in the best interests of the Borrower and is not materially disadvantageous to the Lenders; and

(f) any Subsidiary may merge into any other Person to the extent the transaction constitutes an Investment permitted by Section 6.5;

provided , that in any such case, immediately after such merger or consolidation there shall not exist any Default or Event of Default.

6.5. Loans, Advances, and Investments.

Except as permitted by Section 6.4(b), no Company will make any loan, advance, extension of credit, or capital contribution to, make any investment in, or purchase or commit to purchase any stock or other securities or evidences of Debt of, or interests in, any other Person (all of the foregoing, “ Investments ”), other than:

(a) Investments as of the Closing First Amendment Effective Date;

(b) Acquisitions;

(c) expense accounts for and other loans and advances to directors, officers, and employees of such Company in the ordinary course of business not to exceed $1,000,000 in the aggregate outstanding at any time;

(d) (i) investments in (or secured by) obligations of the United States of America and agencies thereof and obligations guaranteed by the United States of America maturing within one year from the date of acquisition; (ii) commercial paper rated A-2 or better by Moody’s or P-2 or better by S&P; (iii) certificates of deposit, time deposits and banker’s acceptances which are fully insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or are issued by commercial banks organized under the Laws of the United States of America or any state thereof and having combined capital, surplus, and undivided profits of not less than $100,000,000, and which certificates of deposit have one of the two highest ratings from Moody’s or S&P, unless the Borrower has a written commitment to borrow funds from such commercial bank; (iv) repurchase agreements with a term of not more than 30 days for securities described in clause (i) above and entered into with a financial institution satisfying the criteria described in clause (iii) above; (v) in case of any foreign Subsidiary, (A) marketable direct obligations issued by, or unconditionally guaranteed by, sovereign nation in which such Person is organized and is conducting business or issued by any agency of such sovereign nation and backed by full faith and credit of such sovereign nation, in each case maturing within one year from date of acquisition, so long as indebtedness of such sovereign nation is rated at

least A by S&P, A2 by Moody’s or A mid by Dominion Bond Rating Service Limited or carries an equivalent rating from a comparable foreign rating agency , or (B) investments of type and maturity described in (ii) through (iv) above of foreign obligors, which investments or obligors have ratings described in such clauses or equivalent ratings from comparable foreign rating agencies or (C) any other Investments made in compliance with Cash Management Investment Policy of cash management group of QCII and its Subsidiaries with respect to cash investments, substantially as in effect on the Closing Date or as amended in any manner which does not materially increase risk profile of investments permitted thereunder taken as a whole; ;

(e) time deposits, banker’s acceptances or certificates of deposit issued by any of the Lenders;

(f) investments having one of the two highest ratings from Moody’s or S&P;

(g) extensions of credit in connection with trade receivables and overpayments of trade payables, in each case resulting from transactions in the ordinary course of business;

(h) (i) loans , investments and capital contributions from any Company to any other Company, provided that any such loans, investments by any Company in any other Company, and capital contributions by from any Company to any other Company, and an Excluded Specified Subsidiary shall be (x) solely in the form of loans made in connection with cash management activities in the ordinary course of business and (y) transfers for accounting and tax planning purposes in the ordinary course of business and (ii) Guaranties by any Company of the Debt of any other Company , provided that neither the Borrower nor any of its Subsidiaries (other than the applicable Excluded Specified Subsidiary) shall guarantee Excluded Specified Debt ;

(i) investments in the cash surrender value of life insurance policies issued by Persons with a financial rating from A.M. Best Company (as reported in Best’s Insurance Reports) of at least A+; provided , however , that if such Person’s financial rating is downgraded to less than A+, then within 90 days following such downgrading, either (i) such cash value life insurance policies will be transferred to another insurance company with a financial rating of at least A+, (ii) such cash value life insurance policies will be collapsed and the cash value thereof will be collected by the investing Company, or (iii) such investment will become an investment subject to the limitations of subparagraph (m) of this Section 6.5;

(j) the purchase of equity or debt securities of any Company, including the Borrower (but, in the case of equity securities of the Borrower, only to the extent permitted by Section 6.3);

(k) investments in capital stock or securities of or loans to or Guaranties of the Debt (including Permitted Priority Debt) of any Person engaged in the same or similar line of business as set forth on Schedule 3.17 hereto (or any reasonable extensions or expansions thereof) (i) in which a Company possesses (or will possess after such investment) an equity ownership interest in such Person or (ii) secured by the Borrower’s interest in such business;

(l) in the ordinary course of business, investments in the capital stock of the Rural Telephone Bank, CoBank, or the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, or any other lender from whom the investing Company is intending to borrow money which requires such Company to make an equity investment in such lender in order to so borrow;

(m) Guaranties of the Debt of the Borrower’s employee stock ownership plan;

(n) investments in readily marketable money market funds registered under the Investment Company Act of 1940 with an investment policy to hold at least 90% of its assets in cash and securities of a type described in subsections (d), (e) and (f) of this Section 6.5;

(o) investments received in connection with the bankruptcy or reorganization of, or settlement of delinquent accounts and disputes with, customers and suppliers, in each case in the ordinary course of business;

(p) investments consisting of non-cash consideration with respect to the sale of assets permitted by Section 6.7;

(q) any acquisition of stock or assets to the extent that the consideration is paid in the capital stock of the Borrower;

(r) (i) interest rate swap agreements, interest rate cap agreements, interest rate collar agreements or other similar agreements or arrangements, (ii) foreign exchange contracts, currency swap agreements, futures contracts, option contracts, synthetic caps or other similar agreements or arrangements, in each case designed to hedge against fluctuations in interest rates or currency values, respectively, or (iii) collars, caps, spreads and other similar agreements or arrangements, in each case designed to hedge against the total cost and consideration for the conversion of equity linked Debt;

(s) acquisition of in-region wirelines as part of capital expenditures program;

(t) auction rate securities owned by QCII and its Subsidiaries on the Closing First Amendment Effective Date; and

(u) any loans, advances, Guaranties, and investments which never exceed in the aggregate at any time 25% of Adjusted Consolidated Net Worth (valued on the basis of original cost, plus subsequent cash and stock additions, less any write-down in value), net of any cash return representing return of capital in respect of any such investment or any cash repayment of any such loans, advances or G g uarantees (to the extent funded); provided , however , that the aggregate amount at any time of such loans or advances to, Guaranties of, or investments in any joint venture that is not a Domestic Person, including any such joint venture that qualifies as a Subsidiary, shall not exceed $750,000,000 (valued on the basis of original cost, plus subsequent cash and stock additions, less any write-down in value), net of any cash return representing return of capital in respect of any such investment or any cash repayment of any such loans or advances or G g uarantees (to the extent funded);

provided , that this Section 6.5 shall not restrict the investment by any Company of assets held or managed under any Plan.

6.6. Transactions with Affiliates.

No Company will enter into any material transaction with any of its Affiliates, other than (a) transactions between or among entities each of which is either the Borrower or a Wholly Owned Subsidiary (other than an Excluded Specified Subsidiary) , (b) in the case of a transaction between (i) the Borrower and a Subsidiary that is owned by the Borrower or between (other than an Excluded Specified Subsidiary) that is not a Wholly Owned Subsidiary, (ii) Subsidiaries (other than Excluded Specified Subsidiaries) one or both of which is not directly or indirectly wholly-owned by the Borrower a Wholly Owned Subsidiary or (iii) between Excluded Specified Subsidiaries, in the case of each of (i), (ii) and (iii) , if the Borrower has determined that such transaction is in the best interests of the Borrower, and (c) in the case of any other transaction between a Company and (i) a Person that is not a Company , (such transaction s in the ordinary course of business and ) or (ii) an Excluded Specified Subsidiary, upon fair and reasonable terms not materially less favorable than such Company could obtain or could become entitled to in an arm’s-length transaction with a Person that was not its Affiliate; provided that the covenants in this Section 6.6 shall not apply to any transaction between a Company and an Affiliate that is an Affiliate of the Company solely by virtue of the Company’s ownership interest in such Affiliate so long as no other Affiliate that is not also a Company owns any interests in such Affiliate , (d) the incurrence of Debt by an Excluded Specified Subsidiary from the Borrower or a Subsidiary and (e) material transactions otherwise permitted under this Agreement . For purposes of this Section 6.6, such transactions are “material” if they, individually or in the aggregate, require any Company to pay more than the greater of $250,000,000 or 1% of Consolidated Net Worth over the course of such transactions.

6.7. Sale of Assets.

No Company will sell, lease, or otherwise dispose of all or any substantial part of its assets (including a sale by merger of a Subsidiary with or into another Person) other than:

(a) sales of inventory or investments permitted under Section 6.5(d), (e), (f) and (n) in the ordinary course of business;

(b) sales of equipment for a fair and adequate consideration or disposal of obsolete or worn out equipment; provided , that if any such equipment is sold or otherwise disposed of, and a replacement is necessary for the proper operation of the business of such Company, such Company will replace such equipment with adequate equipment;

(c) the exchange of assets for assets in a Permitted Line of Business (including securities of an entity that owns assets) of equal or greater value;

(d) the sale, discount, or transfer of delinquent notes or accounts receivable in the ordinary course of business for purposes of collection;

(e) sales of accounts receivable and related assets or an interest therein of the type specified in the definition of “Qualified Receivables Transaction” made in connection with a Qualified Receivables Transaction (provided that if at any time the aggregate principal amount of all Qualified Receivables Transactions exceeds $150,000,000, the Borrower shall prepay the Loans and/or permanently reduce the Total Commitments under and as defined in the Revolving Credit Agreement by the amount of such excess);

(f) sales of assets from one Company to another Company;

(g) dispositions of assets pursuant to sale and leaseback transactions so long as, after giving effect thereto and the use of proceeds thereof, the aggregate outstanding amount of Attributable Debt of the Companies shall not exceed the greater of $250,000,000 or 1% of Consolidated Tangible Assets;

(h) other dispositions of assets (other than (i) accounts receivable and related assets or (ii) in connection with sale and leaseback transactions); provided , that the Companies shall, within the period of 365 days following the consummation of each such transaction, apply (or cause to be applied) an amount equal to the Net Cash Proceeds of such disposition of assets to either (x) make Eligible Reinvestments or (y) prepay the Loans and/or permanently reduce the Total Commitments under and as defined in the Revolving Credit Agreement; and

(i) to the extent not already permitted by another subsection of this Section 6.7, sales, transfers and other dispositions of assets (other than (i) accounts receivable and related assets or (ii) in connection with sale and leaseback transactions) that are not permitted by clauses (a) through (h) above; provided , that the cumulative consideration for all assets sold, transferred or otherwise disposed of in reliance on this clause (i) shall not exceed $200,000,000 or 2-½% of the Consolidated Total Assets of the Companies (measured as of the last day of the most recent fiscal quarter for which the relevant financial information is available), whichever is greater, in the aggregate, net of Eligible Reinvestments.

6.8. Compliance with Laws and Documents ; Use of Proceeds .

(a) No Company will violate the provisions of any Laws or any Material Agreement if such violation alone, or when aggregated with all other such violations, could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. No Company will violate the provisions of its charter or bylaws or modify, repeal, replace, or amend any provision of its charter or bylaws if such action could reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect. The Borrower will provide to the Administrative Agent a copy of each document that materially modifies, repeals, replaces, or amends the charter or bylaws of the Borrower.

(b) The Borrower shall not use, and shall procure that its Subsidiaries and its or their respective directors, officers, employees and agents shall not use, the proceeds of any Borrowing (i) in furtherance of an offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization of the payment or giving of money, or anything else of value, to any Person in violation of any Anti-Corruption Laws, (ii) for the purpose of funding, financing or facilitating any activities, business or transaction of or with any Sanctioned Person, or in any Sanctioned Country, in each case in any material respect, or (iii) in any manner that would result in the violation of any Sanctions applicable to any party hereto.

6.9. New Businesses.

No Company will engage in any material business other than the businesses in which it is presently engaged or businesses related thereto, as described on Schedule 3.17; provided , that the Borrower and its Subsidiaries may engage in lines of business not described on Schedule 3.17 to the extent the aggregate value of assets contributed to such lines of business, at the time of such contribution, does not exceed 10% of Consolidated Tangible Assets as of the end of any final quarter for which Financial Statements of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries are available.

6.10. Assignment.

No Loan Party will assign or transfer any of its Rights, duties, or obligations under any of the Loan Papers.

6.11. Fiscal Year.

The Borrower will not change its fiscal year without the prior written consent of the Administrative Agent (which shall not be unreasonably withheld).

6.12. Investment Company Status.

No Loan Party will conduct its business in such a way that it will become (a) a “public utility” within the meaning of the Federal Power Act, as amended, (b) an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or (c) an “investment adviser” within the meaning of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended.

6.13. Reserved.

6.14. Financial Covenants.

(a) As calculated at the end of each fiscal quarter of the Borrower (but computed with respect to EBITDA for the four fiscal quarters ending on the last day of such fiscal quarter), the Borrower shall not permit the ratio of Consolidated Total Funded Debt to Consolidated EBITDA of the Companies to exceed 4.00 to 1.0.

(b) As calculated at the end of each fiscal quarter of the Borrower (but computed for the four fiscal quarters ending on the last day of such fiscal quarter), the Borrower shall not permit the ratio of Consolidated EBITDA of the Companies to the sum of (i) consolidated interest expense of the Companies (less any non-cash amounts attributable to amortization of financing costs paid in a previous period) and (ii) dividends declared or paid by any Company (other than to another Company) on its preferred capital stock (but if such dividends are declared and paid during such four-quarter period, the amount shall not be counted twice) to be less than 1.50 to 1.0.

For purposes of this Section 6.14(b), Consolidated EBITDA and interest expense of any Subsidiary which is subject to any Subsidiary Encumbrance, shall be reduced to the extent such Subsidiary is restricted by the Subsidiary Encumbrance. As used in this Section 6.14(b), “Subsidiary Encumbrance” shall mean, so long as a default has occurred and is continuing under the agreement creating such encumbrance or restriction, any encumbrance or restriction on the ability of any Subsidiary to (i) pay dividends or make any other distributions on its capital stock or any other interest or participation in its profits owned by the Borrower or any Subsidiary of the Borrower, or pay any Debt owed to the Borrower or a Subsidiary of the Borrower, (ii) make loans or advances to the Borrower or any of the Borrower’s Subsidiaries or (iii) transfer any of its properties or assets to the Borrower, except for such encumbrances or restrictions (A) existing on the Closing First Amendment Effective Date (or any Permitted Refinancing Debt with respect thereto so long as such encumbrances or restrictions are no more restrictive than those contained in the debt being refinanced), (B) arising in connection with loans made to any Company by the Rural Electrification Administration, the Rural Utilities Service, the Rural Telephone Bank, or similar lenders such as the Rural Telephone Finance Cooperative, or (C) now existing or hereafter arising under or by reason of either (x) applicable Law or (y) this Agreement and the other Loan Papers.

(c) As calculated at the end of each fiscal quarter of the Borrower (but computed with respect to EBITDA for the four fiscal quarters ending on the last day of such fiscal quarter), the Borrower shall not permit the ratio of Qwest Total Funded Debt to EBITDA of Qwest Corporation and its Subsidiaries (the “ QC Leverage Ratio ”) to exceed 2.85 to 1.0.

(d) The Borrower shall not permit Qwest Corporation or any of its Subsidiaries to incur any Funded Debt (other than Permitted Refinancing Debt) unless, and only to the extent that, after giving effect to any incurrence of such Funded Debt, the pro forma QC Leverage Ratio does not exceed 2.35 to 1.0.

Further, for purposes of this Section 6.14 Consolidated Total Funded Debt shall include any Company’s Guaranty of Funded Debt of any Person other than another Company or the Borrower’s employee stock ownership plan. For the first four quarters following any Acquisition, calculations under this Section 6.14 shall be made on a pro forma basis as if the properties acquired in connection with such Acquisition were properties of the Companies during the period of calculation. For the avoidance of doubt, Excluded Specified Subsidiaries are to be included for the purposes of calculating the financial covenants set forth in this Section 6.14.

6.15. Priority Debt .

(a) The At all times prior to the time that the Guarantors are permitted to be released from their Guarantee Agreements pursuant to Section 5.14, the Borrower shall not at any time permit the aggregate principal amount (without duplication) of (i) all Funded Debt of the Borrower or any of its Restricted Subsidiaries secured by Liens permitted by clause (b), (c), (j), (k), (r) (to the extent such Liens are incurred pursuant to clause (r) by a Loan Party in favor of a party that is not a Loan Party), (s) (to the extent replacing a Lien permitted pursuant to a different clause of the definition of “Permitted Liens” listed in this Section 6.15(a)), (t), (w), (x), (y) or (aa) of the definition of “Permitted Liens” plus (ii) all Funded Debt of Subsidiaries of the Borrower, whether or not secured (in the case of both clause (i) (other than Debt of Guarantors) and clause (ii), other than any Permitted Priority Debt) to exceed 10 15 % of Consolidated Tangible Assets determined as of the end of the most recent fiscal quarter for which Financial Statements of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries are available.

(b) In the event that the Guarantors cease to be are permitted to be released from their Guarant ors ee under this Agreement s and the other Loan Papers pursuant to Section 5.14, the Borrower shall not at any time thereafter permit the aggregate principal amount (without duplication) of (i) all Funded Debt of the Borrower or any of its Subsidiaries secured by Liens permitted by clause (b), (c), (j), (k), (r) (to the extent such Liens are incurred pursuant to clause (r) by a Loan Party in favor of a party that is not a Loan Party), (s), (t), (w), (x), (y) or (aa) of the definition of “Permitted Liens” plus (ii) all Funded Debt of Subsidiaries of the Borrower, whether or not secured, to exceed 15 20 % of Consolidated Tangible Assets determined as of the end of the most recent fiscal quarter for which Financial Statements of the Borrower and its Subsidiaries are available; provided that if the Borrower fails to meet its obligations under clause (i) and clause (ii) of this Section 6.15(b), it shall have the right, by notice to the Administrative Agent, to reinstate as Guarantors all Persons then constituting Guarantors as defined herein (and thereafter Section 5.13 shall again be in effect), at which time it shall no longer have to comply with its obligations under clause (i) and clause (ii) of this Section 6.15(b).

SECTION 7

DEFAULT

The term “Event of Default” means the occurrence and continuance of any one or more of the following events (including the passage of time, if any, specified therefor) ( provided , that, if any such event occurs and the Lenders or Majority Lenders, as required by the provisions of Section 10.14, subsequently agree in writing that they will not exercise any remedies hereunder as a result thereof, the occurrence and continuance of such event shall no longer be deemed an Event of Default hereunder insofar as the state of facts giving rise to such event is concerned):

7.1. Payment of Obligation.

The failure or refusal of the Borrower to pay any portion of the Obligation, as the same become due in accordance with the terms of the Loan Papers and, in the case of an interest payment, such failure or refusal continues for a period of 5 Business Days (no grace period being given for failure or refusal to make a principal payment). Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Borrower’s failure to pay, if caused solely by a wire transfer malfunction or similar problem outside the Borrower’s control, shall not be deemed an Event of Default so long as such failure to pay is promptly corrected.

7.2. Covenants.

(a) The failure or refusal of the Borrower (and, if applicable, any other Company) to punctually and properly perform, observe, and comply with any covenant, agreement, or condition contained in Section 5.3(e)(iii) or Section 6.

(b) The failure or refusal of the Borrower (and, if applicable, any other Company) to punctually and properly perform, observe, and comply with any covenant, agreement, or condition contained in any of the Loan Papers to which such Company is a party, other than covenants to pay the Obligation and the covenants listed in clause (a) preceding, and such failure or refusal continues for 30 days after notice from the Administrative Agent to the Borrower.

7.3. Debtor Relief.

The Companies shall not be Solvent, or any Company (a) fails to pay its Debts generally as they become due, (b) voluntarily seeks, consents to, or acquiesces in the benefit of any Debtor Relief Law, or (c) becomes a party to or is made the subject of any proceeding provided for by any Debtor Relief Law, other than as a creditor or claimant, that could suspend or otherwise adversely affect the Rights of the Administrative Agent or the Lenders granted in the Loan Papers (unless, in the event such proceeding is involuntary, the petition instituting same is dismissed within 60 days after its filing).

7.4. Attachment.

The failure of any Company to have discharged within 60 days after commencement any attachment, sequestration, or similar proceeding which, individually or together with all such other proceedings then pending, affects assets of such Company having a value (individually or collectively) equal to or more than $250,000,000 or 1% of Consolidated Net Worth, whichever is greater.

7.5. Payment of Judgments.

Any Company fails to pay any judgments or orders for the payment of money in excess of the greater of $250,000,000 or 1% of Consolidated Net Worth (individually or collectively) rendered against it or any of its assets and either (a) any enforcement proceedings shall have been commenced by any creditor upon any such judgment or order or (b) a stay of enforcement of any such judgment or order, by reason of pending appeal or otherwise, shall not be in effect prior to the time its assets may be lawfully sold to satisfy such judgment.

7.6. Default Under Other Agreements.

A default exists under any Material Agreement to which any Company is a party, the effect of which is to cause, or which permits the holder thereof (or a trustee or representative of such holder) to cause, unpaid consideration of at least 2% of Consolidated Net Worth (individually or in the aggregate) to become due prior to the stated maturity or prior to the regularly scheduled dates of payment. For the purposes of this paragraph, a default by any Company in the payment of any obligation at its stated maturity date (taking into account any applicable cure period) shall be deemed to have caused such obligation to become due prior to such stated final maturity.

7.7. Misrepresentation.

The Administrative Agent or any Lender discovers that any statement, representation, or warranty in the Loan Papers, any Financial Statement of the Borrower, or any writing ever delivered to the Administrative Agent or any Lender pursuant to the Loan Papers is false, misleading, or erroneous when made, deemed made or delivered in any material respect.

7.8. ERISA.

Any one or more of the following shall have occurred and be continuing: (a) the failure of any Plan to comply with any provisions of ERISA and/or the Code or with the terms of such Plan, (b) any non-exempt Prohibited Transaction, (c) any Reportable Event, (d) the failure of any Plan to satisfy the minimum funding standards (within the meaning of section 412 of the Code or section 302 of ERISA) applicable to such Plan, whether or not waived, or a filing pursuant to section 412(c) of the Code or section 302(c) of ERISA of an application for a waiver of the minimum funding standards with respect to any Plan, (e) a determination that any Plan is, or is expected to be in “at risk” status (within the meaning of section 430 of the Code or section 303 of ERISA), (f) the appointment of a trustee by a United States district court to administer any Plan or the institution by the PBGC of proceedings to terminate any Plan, (g) the incurrence by any Company or any ERISA Affiliate of liability under Title IV of ERISA with respect to the termination of any Plan, (h) the incurrence by any Company or any ERISA Affiliate of any liability with respect to the withdrawal or partial withdrawal from any Plan or Multiemployer Plan, (i) the receipt by any Company or any ERISA Affiliate of any notice concerning the imposition of Withdrawal Liability or a determination that any Multiemployer Plan is, or is expected to be, Insolvent, in Reorganization, “terminated” (within the meaning of section 4041A of ERISA), or in “endangered” or “critical” status (within the meaning of section 432 of the Code or section 305 of ERISA), or (j) the failure of any insured medical plan sponsored by any Company on behalf of any current or former employee(s) to satisfy the non-discrimination requirements of section 105 of the Code; and in each case in clauses (a) through (j) above, such event or condition, together with all other such events or conditions, if any, would result in a Material Adverse Effect.

7.9. Validity and Enforceability of Loan Papers.

Any Loan Paper shall, at any time after its execution and delivery and for any reason, cease to be in full force and effect in any material respect or be declared to be null and void, should the Company fail to cure within five days of discovery by the Company or notice from the Administrative Agent to the Borrower, or the validity or enforceability thereof be contested by any Company party thereto or any Company shall deny that it has any liability or obligations under any Loan Paper to which it is a party.

SECTION 8

RIGHTS AND REMEDIES

8.1. Remedies Upon Event of Default.

(a) Should an Event of Default occur and be continuing under Section 7.3, the entire unpaid balance of the Obligation shall automatically become due and payable without any action of any kind whatsoever.

(b) Should any other Event of Default occur and be continuing, subject to any agreement among the Lenders, the Administrative Agent may (and shall upon the request of the Majority Lenders), at its (or the Majority Lenders’) election, do any one or more of the following: (i) If the maturity of the Obligation has not already been accelerated under Section 8.1(a), declare the entire unpaid balance of the Obligation, or any part thereof, immediately due and payable, whereupon it shall be due and payable (and notice of such declaration shall promptly be given thereafter by the Administrative Agent to the Borrower); (ii) reduce any claim to judgment; (iii) exercise (or request each Lender to exercise) the Rights of offset or banker’s Lien against the interest of the Borrower in and to every account and other property of the Borrower which are in the possession of any Lender to the extent of the

full amount of the Obligation; and (iv) exercise any and all other legal or equitable Rights afforded by the Loan Papers, the Laws of the State of New York or any other jurisdiction as the Administrative Agent shall deem appropriate, or otherwise, including, but not limited to, the Right to bring suit or other proceedings before any Tribunal either for specific performance of any covenant or condition contained in any of the Loan Papers or in aid of the exercise of any Right granted to the Lenders in any of the Loan Papers.

8.2. Waivers.

The Borrower hereby waives presentment and demand for payment, protest, notice of intention to accelerate, notice of acceleration, and notice of protest and nonpayment, and agrees that its liability with respect to the Obligation, or any part thereof, shall not be affected by any renewal or extension in the time of payment of the Obligation, by any indulgence, or by any release or change in any security for the payment of the Obligation.

8.3. Performance by Administrative Agent.

If any covenant, duty, or agreement of any Company is not performed in accordance with the terms of the Loan Papers, the Administrative Agent may, at its option (but subject to the approval of the Majority Lenders), perform or attempt to perform such covenant, duty, or agreement on behalf of such Company. In such event, any amount expended by the Administrative Agent in such performance or attempted performance shall be reasonable, payable by the Borrower to the Administrative Agent on demand, shall become part of the Obligation, and shall bear interest at the Default Rate from the date of such expenditure by the Administrative Agent until paid. Notwithstanding the foregoing, it is expressly understood that the Administrative Agent does not assume and shall never have, except by its express written consent, any liability or responsibility for the performance of any covenant, duty, or agreement of any Company.

8.4. Delegation of Duties and Rights.

The Administrative Agent and the Lenders may perform any of their duties or exercise any of their Rights under the Loan Papers by or through the Administrative Agent and their and the Administrative Agent’s officers, directors, employees, attorneys, agents, or other representatives.

8.5. Lenders Not in Control.

None of the covenants or other provisions contained in this Agreement or in any other Loan Paper shall, or shall be deemed to, give the Administrative Agent or the Lenders the Right to exercise control over the assets (including, without limitation, real property), affairs, or management of any Company, the power of the Administrative Agent and the Lenders being limited to the Right to exercise the remedies provided in this Section 8.

8.6. Waivers by Lenders.

The acceptance by the Administrative Agent or the Lenders at any time and from time to time of partial payment on the Obligation shall not be deemed to be a waiver of any Event of Default then existing. No waiver by the Administrative Agent, the Majority Lenders, or all of the Lenders of any Event of Default shall be deemed to be a waiver of any other then-existing or subsequent Event of Default. No delay or omission by the Administrative Agent, the Majority Lenders, or all of the Lenders in exercising any Right under the Loan Papers shall impair such Right or be construed as a waiver thereof or any acquiescence therein, nor shall any single or partial exercise of any such Right preclude other or further exercise thereof, or the exercise of any other Right under the Loan Papers or otherwise.

8.7. Cumulative Rights.

All Rights available to the Administrative Agent and the Lenders under the Loan Papers are cumulative of and in addition to all other Rights granted to the Administrative Agent and the Lenders at law or in equity, whether or not the Obligation is due and payable and whether or not the Administrative Agent or the Lenders have instituted any suit for collection, foreclosure, or other action in connection with the Loan Papers.

8.8. Application of Proceeds.

Any and all proceeds ever received by the Administrative Agent or the Lenders from the exercise of any Rights pertaining to the Obligation shall be applied to the Obligations first, to pay incurred and unpaid fees and expenses of the Administrative Agent under the Loan Papers and second, ratably to pay all other Obligations.

8.9. Certain Proceedings.

The Borrower will promptly execute and deliver or cause the execution and delivery of, all applications, certificates, instruments, registration statements, and all other documents and papers the Administrative Agent or the Lenders may reasonably request in connection with the obtaining of any consent, approval, registration, qualification, permit, license, or authorization of any other Tribunal or other Person necessary or appropriate for the effective exercise of any Rights under the Loan Papers. Because the Borrower agrees that the Administrative Agent’s and the Lenders’ remedies at Law for failure of the Borrower to comply with the provisions of this paragraph would be inadequate and that such failure would not be adequately compensable in damages, the Borrower agrees that the covenants of this paragraph may be specifically enforced.

8.10. Setoff.

If an Event of Default shall have occurred and is continuing, each Lender is hereby authorized at any time and from time to time, without prior notice to the Borrower (any such notice being hereby expressly waived by the Borrower), to set off and apply any and all deposits (general or special, time or demand, provisional or final) at any time held and any other indebtedness at any time owing by such Lender to or for the credit or the account of the Borrower against any portion of the Obligation owing to such Lender, irrespective of whether or not all of the Obligation, or any part thereof, shall be then due. Each Lender agrees promptly to notify the Borrower (with a copy to the Administrative Agent) after any such setoff and application; provided , that the failure to give such notice shall not affect the validity of such setoff and application. The rights and remedies of each Lender hereunder are in addition to other rights and remedies (including, without limitation, other rights of setoff) which such Lender may have.

SECTION 9

THE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT.

9.1. Appointment.

Each Lender hereby irrevocably designates and appoints the Administrative Agent as the agent of such Lender under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers, and each such Lender irrevocably authorizes the Administrative Agent, in such capacity, to take such action on its behalf under the provisions of this Agreement and the other Loan Papers and to exercise such powers and perform such duties as are expressly delegated to the Administrative Agent by the terms of this Agreement and the other Loan Papers, together with such other powers as are reasonably incidental thereto. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary elsewhere in this Agreement, the Administrative Agent shall not have any duties or responsibilities, except those expressly set forth herein, or any fiduciary relationship with any Lender, and no implied covenants, functions, responsibilities, duties, obligations or liabilities shall be read into this Agreement or any other Loan Paper or otherwise exist against the Administrative Agent.

9.2. Delegation of Duties.

The Administrative Agent may execute any of its duties under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers by or through agents or attorneys-in-fact and shall be entitled to advice of counsel concerning all matters pertaining to such duties. The Administrative Agent shall not be responsible for the negligence or misconduct of any agents or attorneys-in-fact selected by it with reasonable care.

9.3. Exculpatory Provisions.

Neither the Administrative Agent nor any of its respective officers, directors, employees, agents, attorneys-in-fact or affiliates shall be (a) liable for any action lawfully taken or omitted to be taken by it or such Person under or in connection with this Agreement or any other Loan Paper (except to the extent that any of the foregoing are found by a final and nonappealable decision of a court of competent jurisdiction to have resulted from its or such Person’s own gross negligence or willful misconduct) or (b) responsible in any manner to any of the Lenders for any recitals, statements, representations or warranties made by any Company or any officer thereof contained in this Agreement or any other Loan Paper or in any certificate, report, statement or other document referred to or provided for in, or received by the Administrative Agent under or in connection with, this Agreement or any other Loan Paper or for the value, validity, effectiveness, genuineness, enforceability or sufficiency of this Agreement or any other Loan Paper or for any failure of any Company a party thereto to perform its obligations hereunder or thereunder. The Administrative Agent shall not be under any obligation to any Lender to ascertain or to inquire as to the observance or performance of any of the agreements contained in, or conditions of, this Agreement or any other Loan Paper, or to inspect the properties, books or records of any Company.

9.4. Reliance by Administrative Agent.

The Administrative Agent shall be entitled to rely, and shall be fully protected in relying, upon any instrument, writing, resolution, notice, consent, certificate, affidavit, letter, telecopy or e-mail message, statement, order or other document or conversation believed by it to be genuine and correct and to have been signed, sent or made by the proper Person or Persons and upon advice and statements of legal counsel (including counsel to the Borrower), independent accountants and other experts selected by the Administrative Agent. The Administrative Agent may deem and treat the payee of any Note as the owner thereof for all purposes unless a written notice of assignment, negotiation or transfer thereof shall have been filed with the Administrative Agent. The Administrative Agent shall be fully justified in failing or refusing to take any action under this Agreement or any other Loan Paper unless it shall first receive such advice or concurrence of the Majority Lenders (or, if so specified by this Agreement, all Lenders) as it deems appropriate or it shall first be indemnified to its satisfaction by the Lenders against any and all liability and expense that may be incurred by it by reason of taking or continuing to take any such action. The Administrative Agent shall in all cases be fully protected in acting, or in refraining from acting, under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers in accordance with a request of the Majority Lenders (or, if so

specified by this Agreement, all Lenders), and such request and any action taken or failure to act pursuant thereto shall be binding upon all the Lenders and all future holders of the Loans.

9.5. Notice of Default.

The Administrative Agent shall not be deemed to have knowledge or notice of the occurrence of any Default or Event of Default unless the Administrative Agent has received notice from a Lender or the Borrower referring to this Agreement, describing such Default or Event of Default and stating that such notice is a “notice of default”. In the event that the Administrative Agent receives such a notice, the Administrative Agent shall promptly give notice thereof to the Lenders. The Administrative Agent shall take such action with respect to such Default or Event of Default as shall be reasonably directed by the Majority Lenders (or, if so specified by this Agreement, all Lenders); provided , that unless and until the Administrative Agent shall have received such directions, the Administrative Agent may (but shall not be obligated to) take such action, or refrain from taking such action, with respect to such Default or Event of Default as it shall deem advisable in the best interests of the Lenders.

9.6. Non-Reliance on the Administrative Agent and Other Lenders.

Each Lender expressly acknowledges that neither the Administrative Agent nor any of their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, advisors, attorneys-in-fact or affiliates have made any representations or warranties to it and that no act by the Administrative Agent hereafter taken, including any review of the affairs of a Company or any affiliate of a Company, shall be deemed to constitute any representation or warranty by the Administrative Agent to any Lender. Each Lender represents to the Administrative Agent that it has, independently and without reliance upon the Administrative Agent or any other Lender, and based on such documents and information as it has deemed appropriate, made its own appraisal of and investigation into the business, operations, property, financial and other condition and creditworthiness of the Companies and their affiliates and made its own decision to make its Loans hereunder and enter into this Agreement. Each Lender also represents that it will, independently and without reliance upon the Administrative Agent or any other Lender, and based on such documents and information as it shall deem appropriate at the time, continue to make its own credit analysis, appraisals and decisions in taking or not taking action under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers, and to make such investigation as it deems necessary to inform itself as to the business, operations, property, financial and other condition and creditworthiness of the Companies and their affiliates. Except for notices, reports and other documents expressly required to be furnished to the Lenders by the Administrative Agent hereunder, the Administrative Agent shall not have any duty or responsibility to provide any Lender with any credit or other information concerning the business, operations, property, condition (financial or otherwise), prospects or creditworthiness of any Company or any affiliate of a Company that may come into the possession of the Administrative Agent or any of its officers, directors, employees, agents, advisors, attorneys-in-fact or affiliates.

9.7. Indemnification.

The Lenders agree to indemnify the Administrative Agent, the Lead Arranger and their respective officers, directors, employees, partners, affiliates, agents, advisors and controlling persons (each, an “ Agent Indemnitee ”) (to the extent not reimbursed by the Borrower and without limiting the obligation of the Borrower to do so), ratably according to their respective Term Percentages in effect on the date on which indemnification is sought under this Section (or, if indemnification is sought after the date upon which the Loans shall have been paid in full, ratably in accordance with such Term Percentages immediately prior to such date), from and against any and all liabilities, obligations, losses, damages, claims, penalties, actions, judgments, suits, costs, expenses or disbursements of any kind whatsoever (including reasonable fees, disbursements, settlement costs and other charges of legal counsel) that may at any time (whether before or after the payment of the Loans) be imposed on, incurred by or asserted against such Agent Indemnitee in any way relating to or arising out of, the Loans, this Agreement, any of the other Loan Papers or any documents contemplated by or referred to herein or therein or the transactions contemplated hereby or thereby or any action taken or omitted by such Agent Indemnitee under or in connection with any of the foregoing; provided , that no Lender shall be liable for the payment of any portion of such liabilities, obligations, losses, damages, claims, penalties, actions, judgments, suits, costs, expenses or disbursements that are found by a final and nonappealable decision of a court of competent jurisdiction to have resulted from such Agent Indemnitee’s

fraud, gross negligence or willful misconduct. The agreements in this Section shall survive the termination of this Agreement and payment of the Loans and all other amounts payable hereunder.

9.8. Administrative Agent in its Individual Capacity.

The Administrative Agent and its affiliates may make loans to, accept deposits from and generally engage in any kind of business with any Company as though such Administrative Agent were not an Administrative Agent. With respect to its Loans made or renewed by it, the Administrative Agent shall have the same rights and powers under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers as any Lender and may exercise the same as though it were not an Administrative Agent, and the terms “Lender” and “Lenders” shall include the Administrative Agent in its individual capacity.

9.9. Successor Administrative Agent.

The Administrative Agent may resign as Administrative Agent upon 10 days’ notice to the Lenders and the Borrower. If the Administrative Agent shall resign as Administrative Agent under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers, then the Majority Lenders shall appoint from among the Lenders a successor agent for the Lenders, which successor agent shall (unless an Event of Default under Section 7.1 or Section 7.3 with respect to the Borrower shall have occurred and be continuing) be subject to approval by the Borrower (which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed), whereupon such successor agent shall succeed to the rights, powers and duties of the Administrative Agent, and the term “Administrative Agent” shall mean such successor agent effective upon such appointment and approval, and the former Administrative Agent’s rights, powers and duties as Administrative Agent shall be terminated, without any other or further act or deed on the part of such former Administrative Agent or any of the parties to this Agreement or any holders of the Loans. If no successor agent has accepted appointment as Administrative Agent by the date that is 10 days following a retiring Administrative Agent’s notice of resignation, the retiring Administrative Agent’s resignation shall nevertheless thereupon become effective, and the Lenders shall assume and perform all of the duties of the Administrative Agent hereunder until such time, if any, as the Majority Lenders appoint a successor agent as provided for above. After any retiring Administrative Agent’s resignation as Administrative Agent, the provisions of this Section 9 shall continue to inure to its benefit.

SECTION 10

MISCELLANEOUS.

10.1. Reserved.

10.2. Money and Interest.

Unless stipulated otherwise (a) all references in any of the Loan Papers to “dollars,” “money,” “payments,” or other similar financial or monetary terms are references to currency of the United States of America and (b) all references to interest are to simple and not compound interest.

10.3. Number and Gender of Words.

Whenever in any Loan Paper the singular number is used, the same shall include the plural where appropriate, and vice versa; and words of any gender in any Loan Paper shall include each other gender where appropriate. The words “herein,” “hereof,” and “hereunder,” and other words of similar import refer to the relevant Loan Paper as a whole and not to any particular part or subdivision thereof.

10.4. Headings.

The headings, captions, and arrangements used in any of the Loan Papers are, unless specified otherwise, for convenience only and shall not be deemed to limit, amplify, or modify the terms of the Loan Papers, nor affect the meaning thereof.

10.5. Exhibits.

If any Exhibit, which is to be executed and delivered, contains blanks, the same shall be completed correctly and in accordance with the terms and provisions contained and as contemplated herein prior to, at the time of, or after the execution and delivery thereof.

10.6. Notices.

All notices, requests and demands to or upon the respective parties hereto to be effective shall be in writing (including by telecopy), and, unless otherwise expressly provided herein, shall be deemed to have been duly given or made when delivered, or three Business Days after being deposited in the mail, postage prepaid, or, in the case of telecopy notice, when received, addressed as follows in the case of the Borrower and the Administrative Agent, and as set forth in an administrative questionnaire delivered to the Administrative Agent in the case of the Lenders, or to such other address as may be hereafter notified by the respective parties hereto:



Borrower:	CenturyLink, Inc. 100 CenturyLink Drive Monroe, LA 71203
	Attention: R. Stewart Ewing, Jr.
	Telecopy: 318-362-1728
	Telephone: 318-388-9512

	CenturyLink, Inc. 100 CenturyLink Drive Monroe, LA 71203
	Attention: G. Clay Bailey and Glynn E. Williams
	Telecopy: 318-388-9093
	Telephone: 318-388-9069

with a copy to:	CenturyLink, Inc. 100 CenturyLink Drive Monroe, LA 71203
	Attention: Stacey W. Goff
	Telecopy: 318-388-9488
	Telephone: 318-388-9539

Administrative Agent:	CoBank, ACB 900 Circle 75 Parkway Suite 1400 Atlanta, Georgia 30339-5946 Attn: Communications Banking Group Telecopy: (770) 618-3202 Telephone: (770) 618-3200

with a copy copies to:	CoBank, ACB 5500 S. Quebec Street Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111 Attn: Communications Banking Group Telecopy: (303) 224-2718 CoBank, ACB 5500 S. Quebec Street Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111 Attn: AgencyBank@cobank.com Telecopy: (303) 740-4021

provided , that any notice, request or demand to or upon the Administrative Agent or the Lenders shall not be effective until received.

Notices and other communications to the Lenders hereunder may be delivered or furnished by electronic communications pursuant to procedures approved by the Administrative Agent; provided , that the foregoing shall not apply to notices pursuant to Section 2 unless otherwise agreed by the Administrative Agent and the applicable Lender. The Administrative Agent or the Borrower may, in its discretion, agree to accept notices and other communications to it hereunder by electronic communications pursuant to procedures approved by it; provided , that approval of such procedures may be limited to particular notices or communications.

10.7. Exceptions to Covenants.

The Borrower shall not take any action or fail to take any action which is permitted as an exception to any of the covenants contained in any of the Loan Papers if such action or omission would result in the breach of any other covenant contained in any of the Loan Papers.

10.8. Survival.

All covenants, agreements, undertakings, representations, and warranties made in any of the Loan Papers (a) shall survive all closings under the Loan Papers, (b) except as otherwise indicated, shall not be affected by any investigation made by any party, and (c) unless otherwise provided herein shall terminate upon the later of the termination of this Agreement and the payment in full of the Obligation.

10.9. Governing Law.

THIS AGREEMENT AND THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE PARTIES UNDER THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY, AND CONSTRUED AND INTERPRETED IN ACCORDANCE WITH, THE LAW OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

10.10. Submission to Jurisdiction; Waivers.

The Borrower hereby irrevocably and unconditionally:

(a) submits for itself and its property in any legal action or proceeding relating to this Agreement and the other Loan Papers to which it is a party, or for recognition and enforcement of any judgment in respect thereof, to the non-exclusive general jurisdiction of the courts of the State of New York, the courts of the United States for the Southern District of New York, and appellate courts from any thereof;

(b) consents that any such action or proceeding may be brought in such courts and waives any objection that it may now or hereafter have to the venue of any such action or proceeding in any such court or that such action or proceeding was brought in an inconvenient court and agrees not to plead or claim the same;

(c) agrees that service of process in any such action or proceeding may be effected by mailing a copy thereof by registered or certified mail (or any substantially similar form of mail), postage prepaid, to the Borrower, as the case may be at its address set forth in Section 10.6 or at such other address of which the Administrative Agent shall have been notified pursuant thereto;

(d) agrees that nothing herein shall affect the right to effect service of process in any other manner permitted by law or shall limit the right to sue in any other jurisdiction; and

(e) waives, to the maximum extent not prohibited by law, any right it may have to claim or recover in any legal action or proceeding referred to in this Section any special, exemplary, punitive or consequential damages.

10.11. WAIVERS OF JURY TRIAL.

THE BORROWER, THE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT AND THE LENDERS HEREBY IRREVOCABLY AND UNCONDITIONALLY WAIVE TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LEGAL ACTION OR PROCEEDING RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR ANY OTHER LOAN PAPER AND FOR ANY COUNTERCLAIM THEREIN.

10.12. Severability.

Any provision of this Agreement that is prohibited or unenforceable in any jurisdiction shall, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or unenforceability without invalidating the remaining provisions hereof, and any such prohibition or unenforceability in any jurisdiction shall not invalidate or render unenforceable such provision in any other jurisdiction.

10.13. Integration.

This Agreement and the other Loan Papers represent the entire agreement of the Borrower, the Administrative Agent and the Lenders with respect to the subject matter hereof and thereof, and there are no promises, undertakings, representations or warranties by the Administrative Agent or any Lender relative to the subject matter hereof not expressly set forth or referred to herein or in the other Loan Papers.

10.14. Amendments, Etc.

Neither this Agreement, any other Loan Paper, nor any terms hereof or thereof may be amended, supplemented or modified except in accordance with the provisions of this Section 10.14. The Majority Lenders and each Loan Party party to the relevant Loan Paper may, or, with the written consent of the Majority Lenders, the Administrative Agent and each Loan Party party to the relevant Loan Paper may, from time to time, (a) enter into written amendments, supplements or modifications hereto and to the other Loan Papers for the purpose of adding any provisions to this Agreement or the other Loan Papers or changing in any manner the rights of the Lenders or of the Loan Parties hereunder or thereunder or (b) waive, on such terms and conditions as the Majority Lenders or the Administrative Agent, as the case may be, may specify in such instrument, any of the requirements of this Agreement or the other Loan Papers or any Default or Event of Default and its consequences; provided , however , that no such waiver and no such amendment, supplement or modification shall (i) forgive or reduce the principal amount or extend the final scheduled date of maturity of any Loan, reduce the stated rate of any interest or , margin or fee payable hereunder (except in connection with the waiver of applicability of any post-default increase in interest rates (which waiver shall be effective with the consent of the Majority Lenders)), extend the scheduled date of any payment thereof, increase the amount or extend the expiration date of any Lender’s Commitment or amend, modify or waive any provision of Section 2.13 or 2.14, in each case without the written consent of each Lender and Voting Participant directly affected thereby; (ii) eliminate or reduce the voting rights of any Lender or Voting Participant under this Section 10.14 without the written consent of such Lender or Voting Participant; (iii) reduce any percentage specified in the definition of Majority Lenders or consent to the assignment or transfer by the Borrower of any of its rights and obligations under this Agreement and the other Loan Papers or release all or substantially all of the Guarantors from their obligations under the Guarantee Agreement, in each case without the written consent of all Lenders and Voting Participants; or (iv) amend, modify or waive any provision of Section 9 without the written consent of the Administrative Agent. Any such waiver and any such amendment, supplement or modification shall apply equally to each of the Lenders and shall be binding upon the Loan Parties, the Lenders, the Administrative Agent and all future holders of the Loans. In the case of any waiver, the Companies, the Lenders and the Administrative Agent shall be restored to their former position and rights hereunder and under the other Loan Papers, and any Default or Event of Default waived shall be deemed to be cured and not continuing; but no such waiver shall extend to any subsequent or other Default or Event of Default, or impair any right consequent thereon.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Agreement may be amended (or amended and restated) with the written consent of the Majority Lenders, the Administrative Agent and the Borrower (a) to add one or more additional credit facilities to this Agreement and to permit the extensions of credit from time to time outstanding thereunder and the accrued interest and fees in respect thereof to share ratably in the benefits of this Agreement and the other Loan Papers with the aggregate principal amount of the Loans then outstanding and the accrued interest and fees in respect thereof and (b) to include appropriately the Lenders holding such credit facilities in any determination of the Majority Lenders.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Agreement may be amended (or amended and restated) by the Administrative Agent, with the consent of the Borrower, and without the consent of any Lender, in order to correct, amend or cure any ambiguity, inconsistency or defect or correct any typographical error or other manifest error.

10.15. Waivers.

No course of dealing nor any failure or delay by the Administrative Agent, any Lender, or any of their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, representatives, or attorneys with respect to exercising any Right of the Lenders hereunder shall operate as a waiver thereof. A waiver must be in writing and signed by the Lenders (or the Majority Lenders to the extent permitted hereunder) to be effective, and such waiver will be effective only in the specific instance and for the specific purpose for which it is given.

10.16. Governmental Regulation.

Anything contained in this Agreement to the contrary notwithstanding, the Lenders shall not be obligated to extend credit to the Borrower in violation of any Law.

10.17. Multiple Counterparts.

This Agreement may be executed by one or more of the parties to this Agreement on any number of separate counterparts, and all of said counterparts taken together shall be deemed to constitute one and the same instrument. Delivery of an executed signature page of this Agreement by email or facsimile transmission shall be effective as delivery of a manually an original executed counterpart hereof. A set of the copies of this Agreement signed by all the parties shall be lodged with the Borrower and the Administrative Agent.

10.18. Successors and Assigns; Participations; Assignments.

(a) The provisions of this Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and assigns permitted hereby, except that (i) the Borrower may not assign or otherwise transfer any of its rights or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of each Lender (and any attempted assignment or transfer by the Borrower without such consent shall be null and void) and (ii) no Lender may assign or otherwise transfer its rights or obligations hereunder except in accordance with this Section.

(b) (i) Subject to the conditions set forth in paragraph (b)(ii) below, any Lender may assign to one or more assignees (each, an “ Assignee ”) all or a portion of its rights and obligations under this Agreement (including all or a portion of the Loans at the time owing to it) with the prior written consent (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld) of:

(A) the Borrower; provided , that no consent of the Borrower shall be required for an assignment to a Lender, an affiliate of a Lender, an Approved Fund (as defined below) or, if an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing, any other Person; and provided , further , that the Borrower shall be deemed to have consented to any such assignment unless the Borrower shall object thereto by written notice to the Administrative Agent within ten days after having received notice thereof; and

(B) the Administrative Agent;

(ii) Assignments shall be subject to the following additional conditions:

(A) except in the case of an assignment to a Lender, an affiliate of a Lender or an Approved Fund or an assignment of the entire remaining amount of the assigning Lender’s Loans, the amount of the Loans of the assigning Lender subject to each such assignment (determined as of the date the Assignment and Assumption with respect to such assignment is delivered to the Administrative Agent) shall not be less than $5,000,000 unless each of the Borrower and the Administrative Agent otherwise consent; provided , that (1) no such consent of the Borrower shall be required if an Event of Default has occurred and is continuing and (2) such amounts shall be aggregated in respect of each Lender and its affiliates or Approved Funds, if any;

(B) (1) the parties to each assignment shall execute and deliver to the Administrative Agent an Assignment and Assumption, together with a processing and recordation fee of $3,500 and (2) the assigning Lender shall have paid in full any amounts owing by it to the Administrative Agent;

(C) the Assignee, if it shall not be a Lender, shall deliver to the Administrative Agent an administrative questionnaire;

(D) unless otherwise agreed by the Borrower, the Assignee shall either (1) be a “U.S. Person” as defined in Section 7701(a)(30) of the Code or (2) have delivered the documents required by Section 2.19(d);

(E) in the case of an assignment to a CLO (as defined below), unless such assignment (or an assignment to a CLO managed by the same manager or an Affiliate of such manager) shall have been approved by the Borrower (the Borrower agreeing that such approval, if requested, will not be unreasonably withheld or delayed) the assigning Lender shall retain the sole right to approve any amendment, modification or waiver of any provision of this Agreement and the other Loan Papers, provided , that the Assignment and Assumption between such Lender and such CLO may provide that such Lender will not, without the consent of such CLO, agree to any amendment, modification or waiver that (1) requires the consent of each Lender directly affected thereby pursuant to the proviso to the second sentence of Section 10.14 and (2) directly affects such CLO; and

(F) no assignment shall be made to (1) a natural person, (2) the Borrower or (3) any of the Borrower’s Affiliates, Subsidiaries or Unrestricted Subsidiaries.

For the purposes of this Section 10.18, the terms “Approved Fund” and “CLO” have the following meanings:

“ Approved Fund ” means (a) a CLO and (b) with respect to any Lender that is a fund which invests in bank loans and similar extensions of credit, any other fund that invests in bank loans and similar extensions of credit and is managed by the same investment advisor as such Lender or by an affiliate of such investment advisor.

“ CLO ” means any entity (whether a corporation, partnership, trust or otherwise) that is engaged in making, purchasing, holding or otherwise investing in bank loans and similar extensions of credit in the ordinary course of its business and is administered or managed by a Lender or an affiliate of such Lender.

(iii) Subject to acceptance and recording thereof pursuant to paragraph (b)(iv) below, from and after the effective date specified in each Assignment and Assumption the Assignee thereunder shall be a party hereto and, to the extent of the interest assigned by such Assignment and Assumption, have the rights and obligations of a Lender under this Agreement, and the assigning Lender thereunder shall, to the extent of the interest assigned by such Assignment and Assumption, be released from its obligations under this Agreement (and, in the case of an Assignment and Assumption covering all of the assigning Lender’s rights and obligations under this Agreement, such Lender shall cease to be a party hereto but shall continue to be entitled to the benefits of Sections 2.10, 2.12, 2.19 and 10.22). Any assignment or transfer by a Lender of rights or obligations under this Agreement that does not comply with this Section 10.18 shall be treated for purposes of this Agreement as a sale by such Lender of a participation in such rights and obligations in accordance with paragraph (c) of this Section.

(iv) The Administrative Agent, acting for this purpose as an agent of the Borrower, shall maintain at one of its offices a copy of each Assignment and Assumption delivered to it and a register for the recordation of the names and addresses of the Lenders, and principal amount of the Loans owing to, each Lender pursuant to the terms hereof from time to time (the “ Register ”). The entries in the Register shall be conclusive, and the Borrower, the Administrative Agent and the Lenders may treat each Person whose name is recorded in the Register pursuant to the terms hereof as a Lender hereunder for all purposes of this Agreement, notwithstanding notice to the contrary.

(v) Upon its receipt of a duly completed Assignment and Assumption executed by an assigning Lender and an Assignee, the Assignee’s completed administrative questionnaire (unless the Assignee shall already be a Lender hereunder), the processing and recordation fee referred to in paragraph (b) of this Section and any written consent to such assignment required by paragraph (b) of this Section, the

Administrative Agent shall accept such Assignment and Assumption and record the information contained therein in the Register. No assignment shall be effective for purposes of this Agreement unless it has been recorded in the Register as provided in this paragraph.

(c) (i) Any Lender may, without the consent of the Borrower or the Administrative Agent, sell participations to one or more banks or other entities (a “ Participant ”) in all or a portion of such Lender’s rights and obligations under this Agreement (including all or a portion of the Loans owing to it); provided , that (A) such Lender’s obligations under this Agreement shall remain unchanged, (B) such Lender shall remain solely responsible to the other parties hereto for the performance of such obligations and (C) the Borrower, the Administrative Agent and the other Lenders shall continue to deal solely and directly with such Lender in connection with such Lender’s rights and obligations under this Agreement. Any agreement pursuant to which a Lender sells such a participation shall provide that such Lender shall retain the sole right to enforce this Agreement and to approve any amendment, modification or waiver of any provision of this Agreement; provided , that such agreement may provide that such Lender will not, without the consent of the Participant, agree to any amendment, modification or waiver that (1) requires the consent of each Lender directly affected thereby pursuant to the proviso to the second sentence of Section 10.14 and (2) directly affects such Participant. Subject to paragraph (c)(ii) of this Section, the Borrower agrees that each Participant shall be entitled to the benefits of Sections 2.10, 2.12 and 2.19 to the same extent as if it were a Lender and had acquired its interest by assignment pursuant to paragraph (b) of this Section. To the extent permitted by law, each Participant also shall be entitled to the benefits of Section 8.10 as though it were a Lender; provided , that such Participant shall be subject to Section 2.14 as though it were a Lender. Each Lender that sells a participation shall, acting solely for this purpose as a non-fiduciary agent of the Borrower, solely for tax purposes, maintain a register on which it enters the name and address of each Participant and the principal amounts (and stated interest) of each Participant’s interest in the Loans or other obligations under the Loan Papers (the “ Participant Register ”); provided , that no Lender shall have any obligation to disclose all or any portion of the Participant Register to any Person (including the identity of any Participant or any information relating to a Participant’s interest in any Loans or its other obligations under any Loan Paper) except to the extent that such disclosure is necessary to establish that such Loan or other obligation is in registered form under Section 5f.103-1(c) of the United States Treasury Regulations. The entries in the Participant Register shall be conclusive absent manifest error, and such Lender shall treat each person whose name is recorded in the Participant Register as the owner of such participation for all purposes of this Agreement notwithstanding any notice to the contrary. For the avoidance of doubt, the Administrative Agent (in its capacity as Administrative Agent) shall have no responsibility for maintaining a Participant Register.

(ii) A Participant shall not be entitled to receive any greater payment under Section 2.10 or 2.19 than the applicable Lender would have been entitled to receive with respect to the participation sold to such Participant, unless the sale of the participation to such Participant is made with the Borrower’s prior written consent.

(d) Notwithstanding anything in Section 10.18(c) to the contrary, any Farm Credit Lender that (i) has purchased a participation in the minimum aggregate amount of $10,000,000 on or after the Closing Date, (ii) is, by written notice to the Borrower and the Administrative Agent (“ Voting Participant Notification ”), designated by the selling Lender (including any existing Voting Participant) as being entitled to be accorded the rights of a Voting Participant hereunder and (iii) receives the prior written consent of the Borrower and the Administrative Agent, which consent, in each case, shall not be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned, to become a Voting Participant (such consent to be required only to the extent and under the circumstances it would be required if such Voting Participant were to become a Lender pursuant to an assignment in accordance with Section 10.18(b)) (any Farm Credit Lender so designated and consented to being called a “ Voting Participant ”), shall be entitled to vote for so long as such Farm Credit Lender owns such participation and notwithstanding any sub-participation by such Farm Credit Lender (and the voting rights of the selling Lender (including any existing Voting Participant) shall be correspondingly reduced), on a dollar for dollar basis, as if such participant were a Lender, on any matter requiring or allowing a Lender to provide or withhold its consent, or to otherwise vote on any proposed action. To be effective, each Voting Participant Notification shall, with respect to any Voting Participant, (x) state the full name, as well as all contact information required of an assignee in an Assignment and Assumption and (y) state the dollar amount of the participation purchased in any or all of its Loans. Notwithstanding the foregoing, each Farm Credit

Lender designated as a Voting Participant on Schedule 10.18 hereto shall be deemed a Voting Participant without delivery of a Voting Participant Notification and without the prior written consent of the Borrower or the Administrative Agent. The selling Lender (including any existing Voting Participant) and the purchasing Voting Participant shall notify the Administrative Agent and the Borrower within 3 Business Days’ of any termination of, or reduction or increase in the amount of, such participation. The Borrower and the Administrative Agent shall be entitled to conclusively rely on information contained in notices delivered pursuant to this paragraph or on Schedule 10.18. The voting rights hereunder are solely for the benefit of the Voting Participant and shall not inure to any assignee or participant of the Voting Participant that is not a Farm Credit Lender.

(e) Any Lender may at any time pledge or assign a security interest in all or any portion of its rights under this Agreement to secure obligations of such Lender, including any pledge or assignment to secure obligations to a Federal Reserve Bank or any other central bank in accordance with applicable law , and this Section shall not apply to any such pledge or assignment of a security interest; provided , that no such pledge or assignment of a security interest shall release a Lender from any of its obligations hereunder or substitute any such pledgee or Assignee for such Lender as a party hereto.

(f) The Borrower, upon receipt of written notice from the relevant Lender, agrees to issue Notes to any Lender requiring Notes to facilitate transactions of the type described in paragraph (d) above.

10.19. Confidentiality.

(a) No Lender will use confidential information obtained from the Borrower by virtue of the transactions contemplated hereby or its other relationships with the Borrower in connection with the performance by such Lender of services for other companies that are not affiliates of such Lender, and no Lender will furnish any such information to such other companies. The Borrower acknowledges that no Lender has any obligation to use in connection with the transactions contemplated hereby, or to furnish to the Borrower, confidential information obtained from other companies.

(b) Each Lender agrees to keep confidential, and not to publish, disclose or otherwise divulge to anyone (and to cause their respective officers, directors, employees, agents and representatives to keep confidential, and not to publish, disclose or otherwise divulge to anyone) all information with respect to the Companies, including all financial information and projections or all other information (the “ Confidential Information ”) except that the Lenders shall be permitted to disclose Confidential Information: (i) to the Administrative Agent, any other Lender or any affiliate thereof; (ii) to their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, advisors, attorneys, accountants and representatives on a “need-to-know” basis in connection with the respective roles of the Lenders described herein, provided , that the Lenders implement reasonable precautions to prevent disclosure by any such personnel, (iii) to the extent required by applicable laws and regulations or requested or required in connection with any litigation or other legal process, provided , that the Lenders will use reasonable efforts to provide the Borrower with a reasonable opportunity to challenge the disclosure and request confidentiality protection for any Confidential Information that is required to be disclosed, (iv) subject to an agreement to comply with the provisions of this Section, to (A) actual or prospective transferees or (B) any direct or indirect counterparty to any Swap Agreement (or any professional advisor to such counterparty), (v) to the extent requested by any regulatory authority or self-regulatory body with jurisdiction or oversight over any Lender or any Affiliate of any Lender, (vi) to the extent such Confidential Information (A) becomes publicly available other than as a result of a breach of this agreement known to the disclosing Lender, (B) becomes available to such Lender on a non-confidential basis from a source other than the Borrower or (C) was available to such Lender on a non-confidential basis prior to its disclosure by the Borrower, (vii) to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners or any similar organization or any nationally recognized rating agency that requires access to information about a Lender’s investment portfolio in connection with ratings issued with respect to such Lender, or (viii) to the extent the Borrower shall have consented to such disclosure. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained above, the Lenders shall be entitled to use the Confidential Information in exercising remedies under this Agreement or any other Loan Paper.

10.20. Patriot Act.

The Administrative Agent and the Lenders hereby notifies the Borrower that, pursuant to the requirements of the USA Patriot Act, Title III of Pub. L. 107-56 (signed into law on October 26, 2001) (the “ Patriot Act ”), it is required to obtain, verify and record information that identifies the Borrower, which information includes names and addresses and other information that will allow the Administrative Agent or Lender to identify the Borrower in accordance with the Patriot Act

10.21. Conflicts and Ambiguities.

Any conflict or ambiguity between the terms and provisions herein and terms and provisions in any other Loan Paper shall be controlled by the terms and provisions herein.

10.22. GENERAL INDEMNIFICATION.

THE BORROWER SHALL INDEMNIFY, PROTECT, AND HOLD THE ADMINISTRATIVE AGENT, THE LEAD ARRANGER AND THE LENDERS AND THEIR RESPECTIVE PARENTS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, REPRESENTATIVES, PARTNERS, ADVISORS, AGENT, SUCCESSORS, ASSIGNS, AND ATTORNEYS (COLLECTIVELY, THE “ INDEMNIFIED PARTIES ”) HARMLESS FROM AND AGAINST ANY AND ALL LIABILITIES, OBLIGATIONS, LOSSES, DAMAGES, PENALTIES, ACTIONS, JUDGMENTS, SUITS, CLAIMS, COSTS, EXPENSES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ATTORNEYS’ FEES AND LEGAL EXPENSES WHETHER OR NOT SUIT IS BROUGHT AND SETTLEMENT COSTS), AND DISBURSEMENTS OF ANY KIND OR NATURE WHATSOEVER WHICH MAY BE IMPOSED ON, INCURRED BY, OR ASSERTED AGAINST EACH INDEMNIFIED PARTY, IN ANY WAY RELATING TO OR ARISING OUT OF THE LOAN PAPERS OR ANY OF THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED THEREIN (COLLECTIVELY, THE “ INDEMNIFIED LIABILITIES ”), TO THE EXTENT THAT ANY OF THE INDEMNIFIED LIABILITIES RESULTS, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FROM ANY CLAIM MADE OR ACTION, SUIT, OR PROCEEDING COMMENCED BY OR ON BEHALF OF ANY PERSON OTHER THAN SUCH INDEMNIFIED PARTY; PROVIDED , HOWEVER , THAT ALTHOUGH EACH INDEMNIFIED PARTY SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE INDEMNIFIED FROM ITS OWN ORDINARY NEGLIGENCE, NO INDEMNIFIED PARTY SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE INDEMNIFIED HEREUNDER FOR ITS OWN FRAUD, GROSS NEGLIGENCE, OR WILLFUL MISCONDUCT. THE PROVISIONS OF AND UNDERTAKINGS AND INDEMNIFICATION SET FORTH IN THIS PARAGRAPH SHALL SURVIVE THE SATISFACTION AND PAYMENT OF

THE OBLIGATION AND TERMINATION OF THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE PERIOD OF TIME SET FORTH IN ANY APPLICABLE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS.

[All signature pages have been intentionally omitted.]

EXHIBIT B

[Schedules]

Schedule 3.3 - Guarantor Significant Subsidiaries

Carolina Telephone and Telegraph Company LLC, a North Carolina limited liability company*

Centel Corporation, a Kansas corporation*

Central Telephone Company, a Delaware corporation*

CenturyLink Communications, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company*

CenturyTel Holdings, Inc., a Louisiana corporation*

CenturyTel Investments of Texas, Inc., a Delaware corporation

CenturyTel of Alabama, LLC, a Louisiana limited liability company*

CenturyTel Service Group, LLC, a Louisiana limited liability company

Embarq Corporation, a Delaware corporation

Embarq Florida, Inc., a Florida corporation*

Embarq Management Company, a Delaware corporation

Qwest Communications International Inc., a Delaware corporation

Qwest Corporation, a Colorado corporation*

Qwest Services Corporation, a Colorado corporation

Savvis Communications Corporation, a Missouri corporation

Savvis, Inc., a Delaware corporation

The United Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, LLC, a Pennsylvania limited liability company*

United Telephone Company of Ohio, an Ohio corporation

* Excluded Regulated Subsidiary

Schedule 10.18 - Voting Participants Principal as of the First Amendment Effective Date



Participant	Principal
AgChoice Farm Credit, FLCA	$	8,625,000.00
900 Bent Creek Blvd.
Mechanicsburg, PA 17050
Mark Kerstetter
Phone 717-796-9372
mkerstetter@agchoice.com

AgFirst Farm Credit Bank	$	40,941,105.76
1401 Hampton Street
Columbia, SC 29201
Bruce Fortner
Phone 803-753-2457
bfortner-servicing@agfirst.com

AgStar Financial Services, FLCA	$	17,250,000.00
1921 Premier Dr.
Mankato, MN 56002
Troy Mostaert
Phone 952-997-4064
troy.mostaert@agstar.com

American AgCredit, FLCA	$	12,937,500.00
4505 29th Street
Greeley, CO 80634
Daryl Nielsen
Phone 970-506-3411
daryl.nielsen@agloan.com

Badgerland Financial, FLCA	$	17,250,000.00
4602 E. Washington Ave.
Madison, WI 53707
Kenneth Rue
Phone 608-241-5737
ken.rue@badgerlandfinancial.com

Farm Credit Bank of Texas	$	45,712,500.00
4801 Plaza on the Lake of Drive
Austin, TX 78746
Nicholas King
Phone 512-465-0294
nicholas.king@farmcreditbank.com



Participant	Principal
Farm Credit Services of America, FLCA	$	21,562,500.00
5015 South 118th Street
Omaha, NE 68137
John Zhang
Phone 402-348-3435
john.zhang@fcsamerica.com

Farm Credit Services of Mid-America, FLCA	$	21,562,500.00
1601 UPS Drive
Louisville, KY 40223
Ralph Bowman
Phone 502-420-3918
rbowman@e-farmcredit.com

Farm Credit West, FLCA	$	12,937,500.00
3010 W. Main Street
Visalia, CA 93291
Ben Madonna
Phone 559-738-6174
ben.madonna@farmcreditwest.com

United FCS, FLCA, d/b/a FCS Commercial Finance Group	$	34,500,000.00
600 Highway 169 South
Suite 850
Minneapolis, MN 55426
Jeremy Voigts
Phone 952-513-0326
jvoigts@farmcredit.com

1 st Farm Credit Services, FLCA	$	28,031,250.00
1560 Wall Street, Suite 221
Naperville, IL 60563
Dale Richardson
Phone 630-527-6426
drichar@1stfarmcredit.com

MidAtlantic Farm Credit, FLCA	$	8,625,000.00
45 Aileron Court
Westminster, MD 21157
Jim May
Phone 410-848-1033
jmay@mafc.com

Northwest Farm Credit Services, FLCA	$	12,384,615.38
1700 S. Assembly Street
Spokane, WA 99224
Jeremy Roewe
Phone 206-569-5572
jeremy.roewe@farm-credit.com

EXHIBIT C

[Exhibits]

EXHIBIT G-1

to the Credit Agreement

[FORM OF]

U.S. TAX CERTIFICATE

(For Non-U.S. Lenders That Are Not Partnerships For U.S. Federal Income Tax Purposes) Reference is made to the Credit Agreement, dated as of April 18, 2012 (as amended,

supplemented or modified from time to time, the “ Credit Agreement ”), among CENTURYLINK, INC., a Louisiana corporation (the “ Borrower ”), the several banks and other financial institutions or entities from time to time parties to the Credit Agreement (the “ Lenders ”) and COBANK, ACB, as administrative agent. Unless otherwise defined herein, terms defined in the Credit Agreement and used herein shall have the meanings given to them in the Credit Agreement.

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 2.19 of the Credit Agreement, the undersigned hereby certifies that (i) it is the sole record and beneficial owner of the Loan(s) (as well as any Note(s) evidencing such Loan(s)) in respect of which it is providing this certificate, (ii) it is not a bank within the meaning of Section 881(c)(3)(A) of the Code, (iii) it is not a ten percent shareholder of the Borrower within the meaning of Section 871(h)(3)(B) of the Code, (iv) it is not a controlled foreign corporation related to the Borrower as described in Section 881(c)(3)(C) of the Code and (v) the interest payments in question are not effectively connected with the undersigned’s conduct of a U.S. trade or business.

The undersigned has furnished the Administrative Agent and the Borrower with a certificate of its non-U.S. Person status on IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E. By executing this certificate, the undersigned agrees that (1) if the information provided on this certificate changes, the undersigned shall promptly so inform the Borrower and the Administrative Agent and (2) the undersigned shall have at all times furnished the Borrower and the Administrative Agent with a properly completed and currently effective certificate in either the calendar year in which each payment is to be made to the undersigned, or in either of the two calendar years preceding such payments.

[NAME OF LENDER]

By:

Name:

Title:

Date: , 20[ ]

EXHIBIT G-2

to the Credit Agreement

[FORM OF]

U.S. TAX CERTIFICATE

(For Non-U.S. Lenders That Are Partnerships For U.S. Federal Income Tax Purposes) Reference is made to the Credit Agreement, dated as of April 18, 2012 (as amended,

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 2.19 of the Credit Agreement, the undersigned hereby certifies that (i) it is the sole record owner of the Loan(s) (as well as any Note(s) evidencing such Loan(s)) in respect of which it is providing this certificate, (ii) its partners/members are the sole beneficial owners of such Loan(s) (as well as any Note(s) evidencing such Loan(s)), (iii) with respect to the extension of credit pursuant to this Credit Agreement, neither the undersigned nor any of its partners/members is a bank extending credit pursuant to a loan agreement entered into in the ordinary course of its trade or business within the meaning of Section 881(c)(3)(A) of the Code, (iv) none of its partners/members is a ten percent shareholder of the Borrower within the meaning of Section 871(h)(3)(B) of the Code, (v) none of its partners/members is a controlled foreign corporation related to the Borrower as described in

Section 881(c)(3)(C) of the Code, and (vi) the interest payments in question are not effectively connected with the undersigned’s or its partners/members’ conduct of a U.S. trade or business.

The undersigned has furnished the Administrative Agent and the Borrower with IRS Form W- 8IMY accompanied by an IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E from each of its partners/members claiming the portfolio interest exemption. By executing this certificate, the undersigned agrees that (1) if the information provided on this certificate changes, the undersigned shall promptly so inform the Borrower and the Administrative Agent and (2) the undersigned shall have at all times furnished the Borrower and the Administrative Agent with a properly completed and currently effective certificate in either the calendar year in which each payment is to be made to the undersigned, or in either of the two calendar years preceding such payments.

[NAME OF LENDER]

By:

Name:

Title:

Date: , 20[ ]

EXHIBIT G-3

to the Credit Agreement

[FORM OF]

U.S. TAX CERTIFICATE

(For Non-U.S. Participants That Are Not Partnerships For U.S. Federal Income Tax Purposes) Reference is made to the Credit Agreement, dated as of April 18, 2012 (as amended,

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 2.19 of the Credit Agreement, the undersigned hereby certifies that (i) it is the sole record and beneficial owner of the participation in respect of which it is providing this certificate, (ii) it is not a bank within the meaning of Section 881(c)(3)(A) of the Code,

(iii) it is not a ten percent shareholder of the Borrower within the meaning of Section 871(h)(3)(B) of the Code, (iv) it is not a controlled foreign corporation related to the Borrower as described in

Section 881(c)(3)(C) of the Code, and (v) the interest payments in question are not effectively connected with the undersigned’s conduct of a U.S. trade or business.

The undersigned has furnished its participating Lender with a certificate of its non-U.S. Person status on IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E. By executing this certificate, the undersigned agrees that

(1) if the information provided on this certificate changes, the undersigned shall promptly so inform such Lender in writing and (2) the undersigned shall have at all times furnished such Lender with a properly completed and currently effective certificate in either the calendar year in which each payment is to be made to the undersigned, or in either of the two calendar years preceding such payments.

[NAME OF PARTICIPANT]

By:

Name:

Title:

Date: , 20[ ]

EXHIBIT G-4

to the Credit Agreement

[FORM OF]

U.S. TAX CERTIFICATE

(For Non-U.S. Participants That Are Partnerships For U.S. Federal Income Tax Purposes) Reference is made to the Credit Agreement, dated as of April 18, 2012 (as amended,

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 2.19 of the Credit Agreement, the undersigned hereby certifies that (i) it is the sole record owner of the participation in respect of which it is providing this certificate, (ii) its partners/members are the sole beneficial owners of such participation, (iii) with respect such participation, neither the undersigned nor any of its partners/members is a bank extending credit pursuant to a loan agreement entered into in the ordinary course of its trade or business within the meaning of Section 881(c)(3)(A) of the Code, (iv) none of its partners/members is a ten percent shareholder of the Borrower within the meaning of Section 871(h)(3)(B) of the Code, (v) none of its partners/members is a controlled foreign corporation related to the Borrower as described in

Section 881(c)(3)(C) of the Code, and (vi) the interest payments in question are not effectively connected with the undersigned’s or its partners/members’ conduct of a U.S. trade or business.

The undersigned has furnished its participating Lender with IRS Form W-8IMY accompanied by an IRS Form W-8BEN or W-8BEN-E from each of its partners/members claiming the portfolio interest exemption. By executing this certificate, the undersigned agrees that (1) if the information provided on this certificate changes, the undersigned shall promptly so inform such Lender and (2) the undersigned shall have at all times furnished such Lender with a properly completed and currently effective certificate in either the calendar year in which each payment is to be made to the undersigned, or in either of the two calendar years preceding such payments.

[NAME OF PARTICIPANT]

By:

Name:

Title:

Date: , 20[ ]

EXHIBIT D

[Intentionally omitted; see Exhibit 4.3b to this Current Report]

Exhibit 4.3b

EXHIBIT D

FORM OF

AMENDMENT TO GUARANTEE AGREEMENT AND

REAFFIRMATION AGREEMENT

AMENDMENT TO GUARANTEE AGREEMENT AND REAFFIRMATION AGREEMENT, dated as of March 13, 2015 (this “ Agreement ”).

RECITALS:

WHEREAS, CenturyLink, Inc. (the “ Borrower ”) entered into that certain Credit Agreement, dated as of April 18, 2012 (as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified prior to the date hereof, the “ Credit Agreement ” and as amended by the First Amendment (defined below), the “ Amended Credit Agreement ”), among the Borrower, the several banks and other financial institutions or entities from time to time party thereto (the “ Lenders ”) and CoBank, ACB, as administrative agent (the “ Administrative Agent ”);

WHEREAS, the Borrower and the Guarantors entered into that certain Guarantee Agreement, dated as of April 18, 2012 (as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified prior to the date hereof, the “ Guarantee Agreement ”), made by the Guarantors party thereto, in favor of the Administrative Agent;

WHEREAS, pursuant to the Guarantee Agreement, the Guarantors have guaranteed the obligations of the Borrower under the Credit Agreement;

WHEREAS, substantially contemporaneously herewith, the Borrower and the Administrative Agent are entering into the First Amendment, dated as of the date hereof (the “ First Amendment ”), which shall, among other things, amend certain provisions of the Credit Agreement; and

WHEREAS, the execution and delivery of this Agreement is a condition precedent to the effectiveness of the First Amendment.

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises contained herein and for good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged the parties hereto agree as follows:

1. Defined Terms . Unless otherwise specifically defined herein, each term used herein (including in the recitals above) has the meaning assigned to such term in the Credit Agreement or the Guarantee Agreement, as the context may require.

2. Amendments to Guarantee Agreement . The Guarantee Agreement is hereby amended as follows:

(a) Section 2.1 of the Guarantee Agreement is hereby amended by adding the following at the end thereof: “(other than, with respect to any Guarantor, any Excluded Swap Obligations of such Guarantor)”.

(b) Section 2.8 is hereby added to the Guarantee Agreement as follows:

“2.8 Keepwell . The Borrower absolutely, unconditionally, and irrevocably undertakes to provide such funds or other support as may be needed from time to time by

each other Loan Party to honor all of its obligations under the Guarantee Agreement in respect of any Swap Obligation. The obligations of the Borrower under this Section 2.8 shall remain in full force and effect until all the Obligations and the obligations of each Guarantor under Section 2 herein shall have been satisfied by payment in full. The Borrower intends that this Section 2.8 constitute, and shall be deemed to constitute, a “keepwell, support, or other agreement” for the benefit of each other Loan Party for all purposes of section 1a(18)(A)(v)(II) of the Commodity Exchange Act.”

(c) The first sentence of Section 3.7 of the Guarantee Agreement is hereby amended by adding the following proviso at the end thereof: “; provided that to the extent prohibited by applicable law as described in the definition of “Excluded Swap Obligation,” no amounts received from, or set off with respect to, any Guarantor shall be applied to any Excluded Swap Obligations of such Guarantor”.

3. Reaffirmation, etc . Each Guarantor hereby:

(i) consents to the First Amendment and the transactions contemplated thereby and hereby confirms its guarantees, acknowledgments, obligations and consents under the Guarantee Agreement as amended by this Agreement and the other Loan Papers to which it is a party and agrees that notwithstanding the effectiveness of the First Amendment, the amendments to the Guarantee Agreement contained herein and the consummation of the transactions contemplated by the First Amendment, such guarantees, acknowledgments, obligations and consents shall be, and continue to be, in full force and effect,

(ii) ratifies the Guarantee Agreement and the other Loan Papers to which it is a party,

(iii) agrees that each of the representations and warranties made by each Guarantor in or pursuant to the Loan Papers is true and correct as to it in all material respects (except any representation or warranty which is qualified by materiality, is correct and accurate in all respects) on and as of the date hereof as if made on the date hereof, and

(iv) agrees that it shall take any action reasonably requested by the Administrative Agent in order to confirm or effect the intent of this Agreement.

4. Conditions . This Agreement shall become effective on the date on which the Administrative Agent shall have received this Agreement duly executed and delivered by a duly authorized officer of each of the Loan Parties and the Administrative Agent.

5. Loan Paper . This Agreement is a Loan Paper and shall (unless otherwise expressly indicated herein) be construed, administered and applied in accordance with the terms and provisions thereof.

6. Counterparts . This Agreement may be executed by one or more of the parties to this Agreement on any number of separate counterparts, and all of said counterparts taken together shall be deemed to constitute one and the same instrument. Delivery of an executed signature page of this Agreement by email or facsimile transmission shall be effective as delivery of a manually executed counterpart hereof

7. No Novation . Neither this Agreement nor the execution, delivery or effectiveness of the First Amendment shall extinguish the obligations outstanding under the Guarantee Agreement of the other Loan Papers. Nothing herein contained shall be construed as a substitution or novation

of the obligations outstanding under the Guarantee Agreement or the other Loan Papers, which shall remain in full force and effect, except to any extent modified hereby or by instruments executed concurrently herewith. Nothing implied in this Agreement, the Credit Agreement, the Guarantee Agreement, the other Loan Papers or in any other document contemplated hereby or thereby shall be construed as a release or other discharge of any of Borrower or any other Loan Party from any of its obligations and liabilities as a “Borrower,” “Guarantor,” or “Loan Party,” under the Credit Agreement, the Guarantee Agreement or any other Loan Paper. Each of the Credit Agreement and the Guarantee Agreement shall remain in full force and effect, until (as applicable) and except to any extent modified hereby or in connection herewith.

8. Applicable Law . THIS AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY, AND CONSTRUED AND INTERPRETED IN ACCORDANCE WITH, THE LAW OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.

[ Signature page immediately follows .]



	CENTURYTEL INVESTMENTS OF TEXAS,
By:	/s/ JOHN L. NAVARRETTE
	Name:	John Navarrette
	Title:	President