Embarq Corporation, or EMBARQ is the fourth largest local exchange carrier in the United States (below the Baby Bells) and the largest independent local provider, serving customers in 18 states and providing local, long distance, high-speed data and wireless services to residential and business customers. It is formerly the local telephone division (LTD) of Sprint Nextel. It is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EQ. First year total shareholder return exceeded 50%.

The Las Vegas, Nevada, metropolitan area is its largest market. The company consists of approximately 18,000 employees.

Telephone directories for EMBARQ customers are published by R. H. Donnelley AKA Dex.

Approximately $6.5 billion in debt was transferred from Sprint Nextel to the new company at the time of the spinoff. EMBARQ produces more than $6 billion in revenues annually.

EMBARQ trademarks are the property of a subsidiary named Embarq Holdings Company LLC. The actual name of the publicly traded holding company is Embarq Corporation.

It began trading on the NYSE on May 18, 2006, under the ticker symbol "EQ."

On October 27, 2008, EMBARQ announced that it would be acquired by Monroe, Louisiana-based CenturyTel, Inc. in an all-stock transaction valued at $11.6 billion, including the assumption of $5.8 billion in EMBARQ's debt. CenturyTel's CEO Glen Post will be CEO of the combined companies. The companies will announce the name of the combined entity at a later date.

History

thumb|300px|Embarq headquarters a mile north of the Sprint campus in Overland Park, Kansas

Sprint

main: Sprint Nextel

The Sprint Corporation was founded in 1899 by Cleyson Leroy Brown under the name of the "Brown Telephone Company" in the small town of Abilene, Kansas. The company was a landline telephone company that operated as a competitor to the Bell System.

In 1938, after emerging from bankruptcy, Brown changed its name to United Utilities. The company grew steadily through acquisitions and changed its name to United Telecommunications in 1972, at which time it provided local telephone service in many areas of the Midwest and South. United Telecom also operated many other types of businesses. In 1980 United Telecom launched a national X.25 data service, Uninet. To enter the long-distance voice market, United Telecom acquired ISACOMM in 1981 and US Telephone in 1984.

Southern Pacific Communications Company (SPCC), a unit of the Southern Pacific Railroad, began providing long-distance telephone service shortly after the Execunet II decision late in 1978. The Railroad had an extensive microwave communications system along its rights of way used for internal communications. In 1972, they began selling surplus time on that system to corporations for use as their own Private Line Network, thereby circumventing AT&T's then-monopoly on public telephony, later expanding to fiber optic cables laid along those same rights of way subsequent to the Execunet II decision late in 1978. Prior attempts at offering long distance service were not approved by the Federal Communications Commission, though the company's fax service (SpeedFAX) had been permitted. SPC was headquartered in Burlingame, California (where Sprint still maintains a technology lab on Adrian Ct.).