Long-Term Debt and Credit Facilities (Tables)

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2013

Debt Disclosure [Abstract]

Schedule of long-term debt including unamortized discounts and premiums

Long-term debt, including unamortized discounts and premiums, at December 31, 2013 and 2012 consisted of borrowings by CenturyLink, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries, including Qwest and Embarq Corporation ("Embarq"), as follows:

			December 31,
	Interest Rates	Maturities	2013			2012
			(Dollars in millions)
CenturyLink, Inc.
Senior notes	5.000% - 7.650%	2015 - 2042	$	7,825		6,250
Credit facility (1)	2.179% - 4.250%	2017	725			820
Term loan	2.420%	2019	402			424
Subsidiaries
Qwest
Senior notes	6.125% - 8.375%	2014 - 2053	8,392			9,168
Embarq
Senior notes	7.082% - 7.995%	2016 - 2036	2,669			2,669
First mortgage bonds	7.125% - 8.770%	2014 - 2025	262			322
Other	9.000%	2019	150			200
Capital lease and other obligations	Various	Various	619			734
Unamortized (discounts) premiums and other, net			(78		)	18
Total long-term debt			20,966			20,605
Less current maturities			(785		)	(1,205	)
Long-term debt, excluding current maturities			$	20,181		19,400

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(1) The outstanding amounts of our Credit Facility borrowings at December 31, 2013 and 2012 were $725 million and $820 million, respectively, with weighted average interest rates of 2.176% and 2.450%, respectively. These amounts change on a regular basis.

Schedule of maturities of long-term debt

Aggregate maturities of our long-term debt (excluding unamortized premiums, discounts and other, net):

	(Dollars in millions) (1)
2014	$	785
2015	565
2016	1,493
2017	2,219
2018	246
2019 and thereafter	15,736
Total long-term debt	$	21,044

Schedule of amount of gross interest expense, net of capitalized interest

Interest expense includes interest on long-term debt. The following table presents the amount of gross interest expense, net of capitalized interest:

	Years Ended December 31,
	2013			2012		2011
	(Dollars in millions)
Interest expense:
Gross interest expense	$	1,339		1,362		1,097
Capitalized interest	(41		)	(43	)	(25	)
Total interest expense	$	1,298		1,319		1,072