CenturyTel Schedules Fourth Quarter 2002 Earnings Conference Call.

Business Editors

MONROE, La.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2003

CenturyTel, Inc. (NYSE Symbol: CTL) plans to release its fourth quarter 2002 earnings results pre-market opening on Thursday, January 30, 2003, and host a related conference call at 10:30 A.M. CST that day.

The conference call will be streamed live over the company's Web site at www.centurytel.com. Interested parties can also access the call by dialing [phone] five minutes prior to the start of the call. A digital recording of the call will be available beginning at 1:30 P.M. CST on January 30, 2003, and ending February 1, 2003, at 1:30 P.M. CST. The replay can be accessed by calling [phone] and entering the conference id number: 7493017. A replay of the call will also be available on the Web site after 12:30 P.M. CST on January 30, 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.