Level 3 Honored With Customer Choice Award for Overall Metro Excellence

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Feb. 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NYSE:LVLT, news, filings) today announced it has won Global Capacity’s Metro Connect Customer Choice Award for Overall Metro Excellence in the Large Carrier group. The award was presented by ATLANTIC-ACM, a leading telecommunications research company, at the Metro Connect USA conference in Miami Beach on February 20. Gary Breauninger, Level 3’s group vice president of Wholesale Sales accepted on behalf of the company.

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The awards are based on the findings of the ATLANTIC-ACM Metro Carrier Report Card, an industry-wide, survey-based study that enables wholesale customers to provide feedback on multiple carriers, with a focus on regional/metro wholesale operations and products. The report features wholesale customers’ ratings that analyze carrier performance on an operational and product basis. Since 1995, the ATLANTIC-ACM Report Card series has been a principal source of carrier performance benchmarking information for the telecom industry.

The report compiles data from more than 400 respondents and more than 1,600 individual carrier ratings. The resulting data provides carriers with an overview of strengths and weaknesses from the customers’ point of view, and allows them to compare directly their own performance to that of competitors.

“The ‘Overall Metro Excellence’ category is among the most notable achievements for this particular report card study,” said Fedor Smith, president of ATLANTIC-ACM. “The award reflects Level 3’s continued strong performance and differentiation in serving the needs of its customers.”

“What makes this award particularly gratifying is to be recognized by customers for attributes that are important to us as well as to them,” said Andrew Crouch, Level 3’s regional president for North America. “We strive to deliver an industry-leading customer experience, and to deliver great value on our efficient and reliable platform, and we work hard at making things easy and seamless for our customers. This honor and what it represents are recognition that our teams are delivering what our customers want. That is more important to us than anything else.”

Level 3 was also the only carrier to finish in the top four of all six categories measured:

• Operational Excellence servicing Wireline Customers
• Operational Excellence servicing Wireless Customers
• Operational Excellence servicing Emerging Customers
• Metro Data Service Value servicing Wireline Customers
• Metro Data Service Value servicing Wireless Customers
• Metro Data Service Value servicing Emerging Customers

Last year, Level 3 won for Metro Data Services Excellence, a measurement of customer satisfaction with the quality of data products purchased, and for Operational Excellence, a measurement of customer satisfaction in brand, sales representatives, provisioning, network performance, billing and customer service. These customers all were in emerging verticals, including content, cable, ISP and systems integrators.

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

About ATLANTIC-ACM
Boston-based ATLANTIC-ACM is a leading provider of strategic research and consulting services serving the telecommunications and information industries. In addition to producing the industry’s principal benchmarking, sizing and opportunity studies, the company assists clients in evaluating telecommunications opportunities for successful investment, market entry, and long-term planning.

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. For more information, please visit www.level3.com

© Level 3 Communications, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Level 3, Level 3 Communications, Level (3) and  the Level 3 Logo either registered service marks or service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC and/or one of its Affiliates in the United States and/or other countries.  Any other service names, product names, company names or logos included herein are the trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Level 3 services are provided by subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc.

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’s SEC filings, including periodic and current reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, as soon as reasonably practicable after those filings are made with the SEC.

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.

The information contained under the caption “About ATLANTIC-ACM” has been provided by ATLANTIC-ACM, which is solely responsible for its content.

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.

SOURCE Level 3 Communications, Inc.