CenturyTel 1st-qtr Profit Falls

But the company also lost 141,000 access line customers, ending the quarter with 1.97 million. This is a drop of almost 7 percent year over year.

CenturyTel said that is making good progress toward finishing its purchase of Embark Corp., and thinks it will be completed during the current quarter. In January, shareholders of both companies approved the deal and CenturyTel has gotten approval from 10 of the 15 states it needs to approve the deal.

Looking forward, CenturyTel predicted second-quarter earnings of 77 cents to 81 cents per share on revenue of $628 million to $638 million.

Company shares rose 31 cents to $27.26.