Brightspeed of Northcentral Ohio, Inc., is a telephone operating company owned by Brightspeed that provides local telephone service in

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, including Amherst, Lorain, and

Vermillion Vermilion (sometimes vermillion) is a color, color family, and pigment most often made, since antiquity until the 19th century, from the powdered mineral cinnabar (a form of mercury sulfide, which is toxic) and its corresponding color. It is v ...

. The company was established in 1977 as the Lorain Telephone Company. The company was acquired by

Centel Centel Corporation was an American telecommunications company, with primary interests in providing basic telephone service, cellular phone service and cable television service. Early history In 1900, Max McGraw took his savings from his newspa ...

and changed its corporate name to Central Telephone Company of Ohio. In 1992, the company was sold to Century Telephone and changed its name to Century Telephone of Ohio, Inc. In 1998, Century Telephone shortened its name to CenturyTel and the Ohio company changed its corporate name to CenturyTel of Ohio, Inc. On August 3, 2021, Lumen announced its sale of its local telephone assets in 20 states to

Apollo Global Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American global private-equity firm. It provides investment management and invests in credit, private equity, and real assets. As of March 31, 2022, the company had $512 billion of assets under management, ...

, including Ohio. Apollo formed a subsidiary called Brightspeed to acquire the assets from Lumen. The sale to Apollo closed on October 3, 2022. Following the closure of the sale, CenturyTel of Ohio was renamed Brightspeed of Northcentral Ohio, Inc.

References

{{Brightspeed Lumen Technologies Communications in Ohio Telecommunications companies of the United States Lorain, Ohio American companies established in 1977 Telecommunications companies established in 1977 1977 establishments in Ohio