Level 3 Expands and Enhances Data Center Infrastructure in Latin America to Meet Growing Customer Demand

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, May 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ –Level 3 Communications, Inc.(NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) today announced it has expanded its data center capacity in Latin America in response to significant growth in customer demand. New infrastructure capacity, dedicated customer equipment and shared services technology provide key enhancements for the expansion of Level 3’s 14 data centers in the region, with substantial expansions in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador.

Level 3 also added new hosting and storage services, and increased its backup and storage capacity to enhance its customers’ ability to grow in the region and internationally. The company has incorporated network, security, and storage management tools, and completed the first phase implementation of security and processing platforms that support its virtual and dynamic infrastructure services in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

“Level 3’s objective is to enhance its customers’ efficiency, security and growth by providing information and communication technologies services that help them reach their goals,” said Gabriel del Campo, Level 3’s senior vice president ofData Centersfor Latin America & Caribbean. “This is why we continue to expand our infrastructure, incorporate new services, improve our processes, and train our employees to enable next generation, high quality solutions that meet our customers’ needs and expectations.”

Level 3’s housing, hosting, storage, backup, monitoring and security services — as well as managed services — can help customers in developing a regional IT strategy with a multi-country footprint, enabling them to be completely interconnected with Level 3’s network. This expansive infrastructure also provides dependability, flexibility and predictability in the management of customers’ mission critical processes.

The company also offers its standard virtual hosting service, which provides a platform for customers to develop internal applications or cloud services. The platform resources can be assigned to a customer’s virtual environment to handle anticipated consumption peaks. This service is provided in data centers located in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Peru.

“In Latin America, enterprises are seeking third party providers of data center services to manage increasing volumes of stored data plus outsource applications management as an intermediate step toward cloud computing models,” stated Diego Anesini, telecom research and consulting manager for IDC in Latin America. “Data center service providers that can demonstrate the ability to integrate value-added services and guarantee high service levels will be strongly positioned to capitalize on the region’s market growth opportunity, providing the data center and security solution capabilities demanded by customers.”

According to IDC estimates, the market for data center services and managed security services in Latin America is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 11.9 percent between 2011 and 2015 reaching nearly $4 billion in market size by 2015(1).

In Brazil and Chile, Level 3’s data centers have been SAS 70 Type II certified. In Argentina, the data centers have achieved ISO 9001 certification in housing, firewall, Anti-Virus Anti-Spam (AVAS), Advanced Security Testing (AST). In addition, several customers have received PCI certification based on Level 3’s services. These world-class certifications enable customers to meet industry standards and regulations.

For more information on Level 3’s advanced network and service offerings, visit www.level3.com.

(1) IDC, Latin America Telecom & IT Services Market Assessment, September 2011.

About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE: LVLT) provides local, national and global communications services to enterprise, government and carrier customers. Level 3’s comprehensive portfolio of secure, managed solutions includes fiber and infrastructure solutions; IP-based voice and data communications; wide-area Ethernet services; video and content distribution; data center and cloud-based solutions. Level 3 serves customers in more than 450 markets in 45 countries over a global services platform anchored by owned fiber networks on three continents and connected by extensive undersea facilities. Level 3 services are provided by subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc.  For more information, visit www.level3.com.

Website Access to Company Information
Level 3 maintains a corporate website at www.level3.com, and you can find additional information about the company through the Investors pages on that website at http://lvlt.client.shareholder.com/.  Level 3 uses its website as a channel of distribution of important information about the company. Level 3 routinely posts financial and other important information regarding the company and its business, financial condition and operations on the Investor Relations web pages.

Visitors to the Investors Relations web pages can view and print copies of Level 3’sSECfilings, including periodic and current reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, as soon as reasonably practicable after those filings are made with theSEC.

Copies of the charters for each of the Audit, Compensation and Nominating and Governance committees of Level 3’s Board of Directors, its Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Ethics, press releases and analysts and investor conference presentations are all available through the Investor Relations web pages.

Please note that the information contained on any of Level 3’s web sites is not incorporated by reference in, or considered to be a part of, any document unless expressly incorporated by reference in that document.

Forward-Looking Statement

Some statements made in this press release are forward-looking in nature and are based on management’s current expectations or beliefs. These forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside Level 3’s control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. Important factors that could prevent Level 3 from achieving its stated goals include, but are not limited to, the company’s ability to: successfully integrate the Global Crossing acquisition or otherwise realize the anticipated benefits thereof; manage risks associated with continued uncertainty in the global economy; obtain additional financing, particularly in the event of disruptions in the financial markets; manage continued or accelerated decreases in market pricing for communications services; maintain and increase traffic on its network; develop and maintain effective business support systems; manage system and network failures or disruptions; develop new services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; adapt to rapid technological changes that could adversely affect the company’s competitiveness; defend intellectual property and proprietary rights; obtain capacity for its network from other providers and interconnect its network with other networks on favorable terms; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; successfully integrate future acquisitions; effectively manage political, legal, regulatory, foreign currency and other risks it is exposed to due to its substantial international operations; mitigate its exposure to contingent liabilities; and meet all of the terms and conditions of its debt obligations. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this press release should be evaluated in light of these important factors. Level 3 is under no obligation to, and expressly disclaims any such obligation to, update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

SOURCELevel 3 Communications, Inc.