Century Link Settles Over Montana Service Complaints

The Montana Public Service Commission has reached a settlement with Century Link over service complaints from customers. PSC Public Information Officer Eric Sell explained the deal.

"The complaints originated out of service quality in the Missouri River area in between Great Falls and Helena, but now it's kind of evolved also into providing access to broadband services for Montana," Sell said.

The decision will impact how Century Link spends its "high-cost support" subsidies from the FCC.

"It had to do with federal subsidies that are intended to provide rural broadband access to rural parts of Montana," Sell said. "So this decision is really important because it brings in about $91 million over the next six years that Century Link is required to invest in broadband in rural Montana."

The FCC subsidies were intended to support higher-cost projects. Sell said that Century Link was investing them into some of the higher-paying projects it had in larger cities like Missoula.