CenturyLink, Inc. is a technology company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana that offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice and managed services. The company is a member of the S&P 500 index and the Fortune 500.[6] Its communications services include local and long-distance voice, broadband, Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS), private line (including special access), Ethernet, hosting (including cloud hosting and managed hosting), data integration, video, network, public access, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), information technology and other ancillary services.[7] CenturyLink also serves global enterprise customers across North America, Latin America, EMEA and Asia Pacific.

Comcast Corporation (formerly registered as Comcast Holdings)[note 1] is an American telecommunications conglomerate headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[9] It is the second-largest broadcasting and cable television company in the world by revenue and the largest pay-TV company, the largest cable TV company and largest home Internet service provider in the United States, and the nation’s third-largest home telephone service provider. Comcast services U.S. residential and commercial customers in 40 states and in the District of Columbia.[10] As the owner of the international media company NBCUniversal since 2011,[11][12][13][14] Comcast is a producer of feature films and television programs intended for theatrical exhibition and over-the-air and cable television broadcast, respectively. Comcast owns and operates the Xfinity residential cable communications subsidiary, Comcast Business, a commercial services provider, Xfinity Mobile, an MVNO of Verizon, over-the-air national broadcast network channels (NBC, Telemundo, TeleXitos and Cozi TV), multiple cable-only channels (including MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, Syfy, NBCSN, and E!, among others), the film studio Universal Pictures, and Universal Parks & Resorts. It also has significant holdings in digital distribution, such as thePlatform, which it acquired in 2006. In February 2014, the company agreed to merge with Time Warner Cable in an equity swap deal worth $45.2 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, Comcast was to acquire 100% of Time Warner Cable.[15] However, on April 24, 2015, Comcast terminated the agreement.[16][17] Comcast and Charter Communications entered into an agreement to conduct exclusive discussions with Sprint Corporation in late June 2017.[18] Since October 2018, it is also the parent company of mass media pan-European company Sky, making it the biggest and leading media company with more than 53 million subscribers over five countries across Europe. [19] Comcast has been criticized for multiple reasons; its customer satisfaction often ranks among the lowest in the cable industry.[20][21] In addition, Comcast has violated net neutrality practices in the past, and, despite Comcast’s commitment to a narrow definition of net neutrality,[22] critics advocate a definition which precludes any distinction between Comcast’s private network services and the rest of the Internet.[23] Critics also point out a lack of competition in the vast majority of Comcast’s service area; there is limited competition among cable providers.[24] Furthermore, given Comcast’s negotiating power as a large ISP, some suspect that Comcast could leverage paid peering agreements to unfairly influence end-user connection speeds. Its ownership of both content production (in NBCUniversal) and content distribution (as an ISP) has raised antitrust concerns. These issues, in addition to others, led to Comcast being dubbed “The Worst Company in America” by The Consumerist in 2010 and 2014.

Level 3 Communications was an American multinational telecommunications and Internet service provider company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. It ultimately became a part of CenturyLink, where Jeff Storey was installed as Chief Operating Officer becoming CEO of CenturyLink one year later in a prearranged succession plan. Level 3 operated a Tier 1 network. The company provided core transport, IP, voice, video, and content delivery for medium-to-large Internet carriers in North America, Latin America, Europe, and selected cities in Asia. Level 3 was also the largest competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) and the 3rd largest provider of fiber-optic internet access (based on coverage) in the United States. On October 31, 2016, CenturyLink announced an agreement to acquire Level 3 Communications in a cash and stock transaction. Level 3 became part of CenturyLink on November 1, 2017.

Qualcomm Incorporated is an American multinational semiconductor and telecommunications equipment company that designs and markets wireless telecommunications products and services. It derives most of its revenue from chipmaking and the bulk of its profit from patent licensing businesses.[3] The company headquarter is located in San Diego, California, United States, and has 224 worldwide locations. The parent company is Qualcomm Incorporated (Qualcomm), which has a number of wholly owned subsidiaries: Qualcomm CDMA Technologies (QCT) sells all of Qualcomm’s products and services (including chipsets); Qualcomm Technology Licensing (QTL) is responsible for the patent licensing business; and Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI) operates nearly all of Qualcomm’s R&D activities.

Verizon Communications Inc. (About this soundlisten (help·info)) (/v??ra?z?n/ v?-RY-z?n) is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average.[8] The company is based at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City,[2] but is incorporated in Delaware. In 1984, the United States Department of Justice mandated AT&T Corporation to break up the Bell System and split into seven companies, each a Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC), and commonly referred to as “Baby Bells”. One of the Baby Bells, Bell Atlantic,[9] came into existence in 1984, consisting of the separate operating companies New Jersey Bell, Bell of Pennsylvania, Diamond State Telephone, and C&P Telephone, with a trading area from New Jersey to Virginia. This company would later become Verizon. As part of a rebranding of the Baby Bells in the mid-1990s, all of Bell Atlantic’s operating companies assumed the holding company’s name. In 1997, Bell Atlantic expanded into New York and the New England states by merging with fellow Baby Bell NYNEX. Although Bell Atlantic was the surviving company name, the merged company moved its headquarters from Philadelphia to NYNEX’s old headquarters in New York City. In 2000, Bell Atlantic acquired GTE, which operated telecommunications companies across most of the rest of the country that was not already in Bell Atlantic’s footprint. Bell Atlantic, the surviving entity, changed its name to “Verizon”, a portmanteau of veritas (Latin for “truth”) and horizon.[10] In 2015, Verizon expanded into content ownership by acquiring AOL,[11][12] and two years later it acquired Yahoo!.[13] AOL and Yahoo were amalgamated into a new division named Oath Inc.[14] (currently known as Verizon Media). As of 2016, Verizon is one of three remaining companies that had their roots in the former Baby Bells. The other two, like Verizon, exist as a result of mergers among fellow former Baby Bell members. SBC Communications bought out the Bells’ former parent AT&T Corporation, and assumed the AT&T name. CenturyLink was formed initially in 2011 by the acquisition of Qwest (formerly named US West). Verizon’s subsidiary Verizon Wireless is the second largest U.S. wireless communications service provider as of April 2019, with 153.1 million mobile customers.[15] And as of 2017, Verizon is the only publicly traded telecommunications company to have two stock listings in its home country, both the NYSE (principal) and NASDAQ (secondary).[16] As of 2017, it is also the second largest telecommunications company by revenue after AT&T.