CenturyLink: We can achieve 50% penetration in areas served by CAF-II

CenturyLink said that as it extends broadband services to rural areas via the Federal Communications Commission’s Connect America Fund-II program, it can attract a larger amount of customers that reside in 1.2 million homes with 10/1 Mbps speeds. In 2015, CenturyLink accepted $500 million in the second phase of the FCC's Connect America Fund (CAF-II), enabling it to deliver broadband services to about 1.2 million rural households and businesses in 33 states over the next six years. By accepting the 33 CAF II statewide offers, CenturyLink will be able to deliver up to 10/1 Mbps to locations in FCC-designated, high-cost census blocks that today can get at best between 1.5 to 3 Mbps speeds. Stewart Ewing, CFO of CenturyLink, said that as its technicians begin building service in a community, more users will sign up. “There are numerous examples of places where we have gone out and enabled locations that did not have service before,” Ewing said. “With door hangers left by the technicians and word of mouth, basically you can quickly get penetration of 50 percent.”