Wholesale Local Service - Planned Outages November 2014

2 REFERENCES The following is a link to the Product Catalog Most contracts (Interconnection Agreements) contain this or similar text: Qwest will work cooperatively with CLEC to develop industry-wide processes to provide as much notice as possible of pending maintenance activity. Qwest shall provide notice of potentially CLEC End User Customer impacting maintenance activity, to the extent Qwest can determine such impact, and negotiate mutually agreeable dates with CLEC in substantially the same time and manner as it does for itself, its End User Customers, its Affiliates, or any other party Qwest shall advise CLEC of non-scheduled Maintenance and Repair, testing, monitoring, and surveillance activity to be performed by Qwest on any Services, including, to the extent Qwest can determine, any hardware, equipment, software, or system providing service functionality which may potentially impact CLEC and/or CLEC End User Customers. Qwest shall provide the maximum advance notice of such non- scheduled Maintenance and Repair and testing activity possible, under the circumstances; provided, however, that Qwest shall provide emergency Maintenance and Repair as promptly as possible to maintain or restore service and shall advise CLEC promptly of any such actions it takes Qwest will perform scheduled maintenance of substantially the same type and quality to that which it provides to itself, its End User Customers, its Affiliates, or any other party. Confidential: This material is be provided as informational only. Subject to Non-Disclosure Agreements.

Two Networks  CenturyLink operates what might be considered two networks:  One network supplies local (intraLATA) services; A second network supplies long haul (interLATA, interstate and international) services  Each of the two networks is separate in that each involves distinct tools, systems, procedures and teams.  The long haul network employs more sophisticated tools. The tools help to readily associate the customer of a sub-rate circuit that is multiplexed onto a high-speed rail. This association is typically possible down to the DS1 speed.  By contrast, the local networks now lack a similar tool to readily associate the customer of a sub-rate circuit multiplexed onto a high-speed rail. This is typically not now readily possible below OC-3 speed except for certain special services (FAA, E911, & SS7).  IT development efforts are underway. Between the NIC development which is migrating and integrating inventory and a tool providing “Grand Correlation,” we anticipate improvements to the way we notify customers. This would then allow us to supply the sub-rate circuit association on the local network as discussed above for the long haul network. The timing of this is not clear. 3

CenturyLink Outages - Defined Unplanned Outages When there is an outage due to an unexpected trigger; e.g. hardware failure, software failure, cable cut or human error Planned Maintenance Activity in the network driven by a need to proactively protect, grow or repair the network. Emergency Maintenance Activity with <48 hours of notice that impacts the network required to protect or repair the network Confidential: This material is be provided as informational only. Subject to Non-Disclosure Agreements. 4

5 Unplanned Outages & Emergency Changes CenturyLink notifies CLECs of major network outages via to a CLEC’s identified contact. CenturyLink applies the same thresholds and procedures for external notification as it does for internal notification. The notification involves an initial report of an abnormal condition and estimated restoration time/date, abnormal condition updates, and final disposition. Service restoration is non-discriminatory, and is accomplished as quickly as possible. The initial report is consistently supplied within two hours of discovery of the major outage.  Threshold (constituting the label “major”) : - an outage of at least 30 minutes duration that: potentially affects at least 900,000 user minutes of telephony service; potentially affects at least 1,350 DS-3 minutes; potentially affects special offices and facilities (primarily E911, FAA and SS7); Confidential: This material is be provided as informational only. Subject to Non-Disclosure Agreements.

Planned Change Management Activity (Local ** ) CenturyLink performs proactive maintenance from 10:00 PM through 6:00 AM Monday through Friday, and Saturday 10:00 PM through Monday 6:00 AM (local time). If E911 service is impacted, the following windows apply: Tuesday through Thursday, 3:00 AM - 6:00 AM when 50% or more of a 911 trunk group is affected and/or switch translations work is involved. Monday through Thursday, 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM for all other activity and when less than 50% of a 911 trunk group is involved. A representative from the affected PSAP must provide approval via the CenturyLink Center for 911 Customer Service. If a predictable outage is unavoidable, then it is scheduled during the window. ** National Long Haul Network has a window of 12-6 AM local time. 6

7 Change Management Outage Notification If a scheduled outage notification is sent to a retail local services customer, then it is sent to a wholesale local services customer. Internally, CenturyLink often refers to this as Company Initiated Activity (CIA).  Thresholds: CenturyLink sends a notification of a scheduled outage to customers purchasing: 1.circuits operating at optical speeds (OC-N) and Unbundled Dark Fiber 2.circuits supplying FAA, E911 or SS7 critical services  Minimum Notification Intervals: Optical Speeds and FAA = 14 business days 911 = 10 calendar days SS7 = 24 hours Notifications are not sent when they would be associated with lower speed local services. Notifications are not sent to the end user of a CenturyLink wholesale customer.

8  CenturyLink continues to refine its scheduled outage notification procedures.  CenturyLink operates two networks (local and long haul) which creates notification distinction.  Outages are avoided. Notification of an outage for a particular service is the same, retail versus wholesale. Summary Questions? Ideas?