BROOMFIELD, Colo., November 29, 2006 - Level 3 Communications’ Wholesale Markets Group today announced that it has expanded its relationship with BendBroadband to serve as the underlying service provider for BendBroadband’s new Business Voice Service offering.
Under the terms of the multi-year agreement, BendBroadband, an Oregon-based cable operator, will use the Level 3® VoIP Enhanced Local service to provide small and medium-sized businesses with a new, cost-effective solution for local and long-distance calling. BendBroadband Business Phone will include enhanced voicemail, E-911 service and popular calling features such as caller ID, call waiting and 3-way calling.
"We are proud to be at the forefront of extending facilities-based, digital phone capabilities to businesses," said Amy Tykeson, chief executive officer of BendBroadband. "BendBroadband Business Phone is an affordable and innovative new service with unique features that are not available from traditional providers. Level 3 enables us to deliver the same broad coverage and high level of reliability to businesses that our residential voice customers have come to know and expect. We are delighted to bring true choice to the small business community in Central Oregon."
"We believe that the small and medium business market offers a great growth opportunity for BendBroadband – and for all cable operators," said Rich DiGeronimo, vice president and general manager of cable markets for Level 3. "Level 3 provides the core voice infrastructure that enables cable providers to quickly and cost-effectively bring dependable voice services to market, and to easily scale their offerings to meet increasing demand from small and medium businesses. We applaud BendBroadband for quickly bringing solutions to small and medium businesses, and we are looking forward to working closely with them on this important new initiative."
The Level 3 VoIP Enhanced Local service supports BendBroadband’s local, long distance and international voice traffic, providing voice origination, voice termination and directory listings. The service also enables BendBroadband to connect its customers to the public switched telephone network which allows those customers to make calls to anywhere in the world. .
Level 3’s VoIP Enhanced Local Service
Level 3’s VoIP Enhanced Local service provides the essential components required to offer reliable and high-quality local voice service. These components include network trunking, local numbers, local number portability, E-911, operator assistance, directory listings, and directory assistance. The Level 3 VoIP Enhanced Local service also enables Level 3 customers to manage and control end-user features to customize the service for their end-user customer.
About Level 3 Communications
Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT), an international communications company, operates one of the largest Internet backbones in the world, connecting 180 markets in 18 countries. The company serves a broad range of wholesale, enterprise and content customers with a comprehensive suite of services including: Internet Protocol (IP) services, broadband transport and infrastructure services, colocation services, voice and voice over IP services, content delivery and media distribution services. These services provide the building blocks to enable Level 3’s customers to meet their growing demands for advanced communications solutions. The company’s Web address is www.Level3.com.
"Level 3 Communications,” "Level 3," the red 3D brackets and the Level 3 Communications logo are registered service marks of Level 3 Communications, LLC in the United States and/or other countries. Level 3 services are provided by wholly owned subsidiaries of Level 3 Communications, Inc. Any other service, product or company names recited herein may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.
Forward-Looking Statement
Some of the statements that we make in this press release are forward looking in nature. These statements 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 our control, which could cause actual events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the statements. The most important factors that could prevent us from achieving our stated goals include, but are not limited to our ability to: successfully integrate acquisitions; increase the volume of traffic on our network; defend our intellectual property and proprietary rights; develop new products and services that meet customer demands and generate acceptable margins; successfully complete commercial testing of new technology and information systems to support new products and services; attract and retain qualified management and other personnel; and meet all of the terms and conditions of our 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.
