Embarq Details Shrinkage

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- EMBARQ (NYSE: EQ - News) announced today that it ended 2006 with just over 6.9 million access lines. Compared to year-end 2005, this represents a decline of 6.1 percent, which is better than the company's expectation of a mid to upper 6 percent rate of decline.

In the fourth quarter, EMBARQ lost 85,000 access lines due to competition and product substitution, and an additional 5,000 lines due to an exchange sale. A year ago the company reported a fourth quarter decline of 89,000 access lines, none of which were due to line sales.

"While we would prefer not to lose a single access line, given that we faced more competition in the fourth quarter of 2006 than we did in 2005, to lose fewer access lines than we did a year ago is encouraging," said Dan Hesse, Chairman and CEO of EMBARQ. "Since the launch of our company less than a year ago, we have introduced practical, innovative new products and services, simplified our offers, and taken many other steps to better serve our customers. Those efforts are clearly having an impact on our access line metrics."

Embarq Corp. (NYSE: EQ)