CenturyLink 2012 Annual Report Download - page 4

CenturyLink deliveredstrong results again in
2012 as we continue to diversify ourrevenues
andincrease our operationalefficiencies.
We generatedsolidgrowth in our enterprise
network services, managed IT services and
data hosting businesses,and increased our
high-speed Internetsubscriber base.We
also achievedadditional operatingexpense
synergies related to the Qwest acquisition
earlier than we originally anticipated. Our
2012 performancereflects the hard work of
ouremployees and the ongoing investments
in ourstrategic growth opportunities. With
continuedsuccess, we should achieve
revenue stability in 2014– an important
milestone forour company.
Havingclosed threemajor acquisitions over
the past three years, our focus in 2012was
on integrating assets, improving products
andservices, and drivingstrategic revenue
growth. We alsocontinued to invest in growth
opportunities such as Multiprotocol Label
Switching(MPLS), Ethernet,data hosting
andmanaged servicesfor business custom-
ers, fiber-to-the-tower (FTTT) for wholesale
customers, and Prism™TV and broadband
enhancements forconsumers. While
competition remains strong and technologies
continue to evolve, we believe we have
the right people, assets, technologies and
operatingscale to delivercompetitive,
differentiated service offerings and to drive
long-term growth.
Even as we transform CenturyLink into a
largerand more diverse organization, we also
remainfocused on maintaining the personal
service that is a hallmark of our company.
Ouremployees are guided by our Unifying
Principlesand aligned with our Vision: to
improve lives, strengthen businessesand
connect communities by deliveringadvanced
technologies and solutions with honestand
personal service. We are working to be a
differentkind of communications company;
onethat sets customers free to focus on
what is mostimportant to them.
Measuringour progress
Improvement in our top-line revenue trend
best capturesthe progresswe made in 2012.
Ourrate of pro forma revenue decline in
2012 improvedto 1.7 percent comparedto
3.8percent in 2011. With steady investment
in strategicgrowth opportunities, we have
made significant progress toward achieving
revenue stability, andwe believe operating
cash flow stabilization shouldsoon follow.
A major driver of our 2012 progressis the
success we’ve achieved in the business
market, whichincludeslargeenterprises,
small- to medium-size businesses and
government entities.We believeour network
anddata hosting capabilities alignwell with
the business community’s growing demand
forsecure communication and computing
solutions. We offerleading MPLS and
Ethernet technologiesover our robust
`To Our Shareholders
_2
ExpandingLinks b
Business
s 7E GREW PRO FORMA STRATEGIC
revenues for enterprise network
services by 4.3 percent in 2012
over2011.
s 7E DROVE SEQUENTIAL RECURRING
revenue growth for enterprise
network services in every quarter
of 2012.
s 7E ENDED  WITH  DATA
centers and 1.4 million sellable
squarefeet in North America,
Europe andAsia.
s 7E LAUNCHED A SIMPLIlED APPROACH
to cloud computing forbusinesses
of allsizes, and we expanded our
industry-leadingsuiteof enterprise
cloud computing solutions.
s 7E ACQUIRED #IBERS )4 OUTSOURCING
business, enhancing our capabilities
in application management
services andhelp-desk support.
Business customers include large
enterprise, small- to medium-size
business, government entities and
wholesale business customers.
Our Success in the
Business Market
provided 60 percent of our revenue in 2012.
“With continued success, we should achieve revenue
stability in 2014 – an important milestone for our company.”
60%
...with businesses