Embarq Corporation was the largest independent local exchange carrier in the United States (below the Baby Bells),[2] serving customers in 18 states and providing local, long-distance, high-speed data and wireless services to residential and business customers.

[4] 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.

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 MCI Telecommunications Corp. v. FCC (Execunet II)[7] decision late in 1978.

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.

SPCC was headquartered in Burlingame, California, where Sprint still maintains a technology lab on Adrian Court.

When MCI Communications released EXECUNET, SPCC went to court with the FCC to get the right to offer switched services.

The SPRINT service was first marketed to six metropolitan areas, New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego and Anaheim.

However, the deal did not go through because of pressure from the United States Department of Justice and the European Union on concerns of it creating a monopoly.

(FON stood for "Fiber Optic Network", which was Sprint's bragging right, but was also a homophone of the word "phone").

Embarq focused on sales of landline telephone service, high-speed internet, and DISH Network satellite TV.

[14] Embarq offered fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) in additional markets, such as parts of Las Vegas, Nevada, North Carolina and Florida.

Discounts were available when eligible DISH Network programming was bundled with other qualifying Embarq products.

Testing was completed and Embarq/CenturyLink rolled out IPTV to its customer base in Jefferson City, MO in October 2009.

CenturyTel is providing its IPTV feed to the Jefferson City switching office from its service in Columbia, MO.

Embarq utilized the CDMA band, and their handsets connect primarily to Sprint PCS towers.

[16] Embarq previously worked with NebuAd, a behavioral targeting advertising company to track customers' internet browsing habits.

[17] This has raised several legal and privacy concerns, along with the other internet providers using NebuAd and related services such as Charter Communications and WOW!.