CenturyTel Schedules First Quarter 2003 Earnings Conference Call.

Business Editors

MONROE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 17, 2003

CenturyTel, Inc. (NYSE:CTL) plans to release its first quarter 2003 earnings results pre-market opening on Thursday, May 1, 2003, and host a related conference call at 10:30 a.m. CDT that day.

The conference call will be streamed live over CenturyTel's Web site at www.centurytel.com. Interested parties can also access the call by dialing 800/346-2923 and entering the conference id number: 3383 five minutes prior to the start of the call. A digital recording of the call will be available beginning at 1:30 p.m. CDT on May 1, 2003, and ending May 5, 2003, at 1:30 p.m. CDT. The replay can be accessed by calling 800/332-6854 and entering the conference id number: 3383. A replay of the call will also be available on the Web site after 12:30 p.m. CDT on May 1, 2003.

CenturyTel, Inc. provides communications services including local, long distance, Internet access and data services to more than 3 million customers in 22 states. The company, headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CTL, and is included in the S&P 500 Index. CenturyTel is the 8th largest local exchange telephone company, based on access lines, in the United States. Visit CenturyTel's corporate Web site at www.centurytel.com.