Level 3 Communications, Inc. today announced that it has expanded its portfolio of transport and infrastructure services with the addition of waveleng...

Level 3 Communications, Inc. today announced that it has expanded its portfolio of transport and infrastructure services with the addition of wavelength and Ethernet services for metropolitan area networks (MANs). These new services are available in 36 U.S. and European cities where Level 3 already offers metropolitan private line and metropolitan dark fiber services.

The new services, called (3)Link Metro Wavelength and (3)Link Metro Ethernet, are being offered as a result of increasing customer demand for metropolitan transport solutions. Level 3 now has a comprehensive set of metropolitan services that gives its customers the flexibility to choose the most appropriate solution for their needs, including metropolitan access to Level 3’s intercity transport, Internet and data networking services. “We’re pleased that a major global carrier, a top online content provider and others have already selected Level 3 for their metropolitan wavelength and Ethernet needs,” said Steve Liddell, senior vice president of Transport, Infrastructure and Access Services for Level 3. “We believe our new metropolitan network services will provide customers with the ideal combination of reliability, diversity and security, while bringing them economic benefits that exceed those of other metropolitan solutions.”

Level 3’s new metropolitan wavelength and Ethernet services support metro applications including IP connectivity, traffic aggregation, converged networks, long-haul extensions, data traffic exchange and other customer needs. The services are available at a variety of speeds and eliminate the need for customers to invest the significant capital, management and maintenance costs associated with building a dark fiber network. “In addition to the voice market, Level 3 has identified opportunities to leverage our other product lines to further expand the company’s addressable market and create new sources of potential revenue,” said Liddell. “We believe we have a substantial and sustainable competitive advantage in the quality and reliability of our network architecture that, combined with our industry-leading innovation and responsiveness, makes us an ideal partner for companies requiring metropolitan transport and infrastructure services.”

“Many of the world’s top telecommunications companies, ISPs and cable operators have trusted us to meet their intercity wavelength needs for several years,” added Liddell. “As an experienced and proven architect and provider of long-haul, wavelength-based customer networks, it makes sense to leverage our extensive metropolitan network assets to bring metropolitan wavelength services to market at a time of increasing demand from existing customers.” According to the Yankee Group, a global leader in technology research and strategic consulting, the compound annual growth rate for metropolitan wavelength services will be 71 percent from 2003 to 2006, with the total market reaching $1.08 billion in 2006.

“Level 3 has emerged as a significant rival to AT&T, MCI and Sprint in the wholesale telecommunications market,” said J. P. Gownder, senior analyst with the Yankee Group. “Our research suggests that Level 3 has already begun to establish market share in metropolitan area services. Level 3 is well-positioned to become a market leader in metro services, just as it has become a top-tier competitor in long haul services.” The (3)Link Metro Ethernet service provides customers with the ease of use and cost-effectiveness of Ethernet technology when connecting local-area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs) to MANs. (3)Link Metro Ethernet also provides seamless access to (3)FlexSM Ethernet and (3)CrossRoads services.

Further, the metropolitan Ethernet service eliminates the multi-protocol operating complexities associated with network equipment, maintenance, and management, and allows customers to leverage their invesent in Ethernet equipment for connectivity to the MAN at GigE or 10GigE speeds. For more information about Level 3’s new metropolitan network services, please visit http://www.level3.com/2700.hl and http://www.level3.com/2701.hl.


About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 (Nasdaq:LVLT) is an international communications and information services company. The company operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, is one of the largest providers of wholesale dial-up service to ISPs in North America and is the primary provider of Internet connectivity for millions of broadband subscribers, through its cable and DSL partners. The company offers a wide range of communications services over its broadband fiber optic network including Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport, colocation services, Genuity managed services, and patented Softswitch-based managed modem and voice services.

For more information on Level 3, please visit www.Level3.com