CenturyLink Ramps Up Donated High-Speed Lifelines

By John Eggerton
published

Moving from ship to shore, CenturyLink is extending its broadband lifelines.

CenturyLink hands hospital ship Mercy a broadband lifeline. The cartoon was created by CenturyLink employee Denise Paine, a sales director in Boston.

CenturyLink hands hospital ship Mercy a broadband lifeline. The cartoon was created by CenturyLink employee Denise Paine, a sales director in Boston.

The ISP, which last weekend donated its time and service to getting the hospital ship Mercy connected with a free 1 gig Ethernet connection, is now donating high-speed connections to temporary hospital facilities.

The company said it will donate connectivity and waive fees for several field hospitals and quarantine sites in Washington (Seattle) and Oregon.

As with the Mercy's tight deadline, CenturyLink says the turnaround time for such connections is 48 hours.

“This is the beginning of our essential work to assist healthcare workers on the front lines, as we respond where we are needed the most,” said Ed Morche, CenturyLink president of government and enterprise markets. “As these needs arise across the country, CenturyLink is coordinating with local government, hospitals, and the military to locate field hospitals on our network so we can provide immediate connectivity. We are donating our costs and services to help the cause - it’s the right thing to do.”

The company said it is currently providing the following, with more to come.

  • A 1 gig Ethernet connection to the Oregon State Fair and Exposition Center in Salem for a 250-bed temporary hospital.
  • A 200 Mbps fiber link to, appropriately, the CenturyLink Field Events Center in Seattle for a 148-bed facility to house non-coronavirus patients.
  • High speed fiber connections at eight quarantine sites in King County, Wash., and Seattle.
John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.