CenturyLink, Inc. is a globalbroadband and telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana. The company, founded as Central Telephone & Electronics Corporation in 1968, later changed its name to Century Telephone Enterprises, Inc. in 1971, and then was called CenturyTel, Inc. from 1999 to 2010. A member of the S&P 500 index, the company operates as a local exchange carrier and Internet service provider in U.S. markets and is the third-largest telecommunications company in the United States in terms of lines served, behind AT&T and Verizon Communications. It also provides long distance service. Approximately 45% of total employees are represented by two labor unions; the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

It acquired Embarq in 2009 and began doing business as CenturyLink, officially changing its corporate name to CenturyLink, Inc. in May 2010. The company completed its acquisition of Qwest on April 1, 2011.

The earliest predecessor of Century Telephone was the Oak Ridge Telephone Company in Oak Ridge, Louisiana, which was owned by F.E. Hogan, Sr. In 1930, Hogan sold the company, with 75 paid subscribers, to William Clarke and Marie Williams, for $500. They moved the switchboard to the Williams family front parlor. In 1946, the Williams' son, Clarke McRae Williams, received ownership of the family's telephone company as a wedding gift. In 1947, Clarke Williams learned the telephone company in Marion, Louisiana was for sale. With a loan from business associate Joe Sydney Carter, Clarke purchased the Marion Telephone Company and eventually made it his base of operation as he grew his company through more acquisitions. CenturyLink still maintains offices in the former headquarters building. The company remained as a family-operated business until it became incorporated in 1968.^{[dead link]}