The convergence within the telecommunications industry continues as CenturyLink announced their acquisition of Level 3 for $34 billion in cash and stock. Vertical Systems Inc. named Level 3 as the second largest US ethernet provider for businesses earlier this year, coming in behind AT&T. Adding Level 3 to the CenturyLink portfolio positions them to better meet the bandwidth requirements of enterprises and keeps them competitive against other communications giants like AT&T and Verizon.  Far from a done deal, it is anticipated to close in September 2017 pending sign off from antitrust authorities and the Federal Communications Commission.

As a CenturyLink or Level 3 customer, your service shouldn’t be directly impacted. However, combining internal systems could take a couple of years, and resources like customer service and support may suffer in the short term. With the deal scheduled to be complete in the third quarter of 2017, it will most likely be two-three years before the networks are fully merged. Customers using CenturyLink as a primary provider and Level 3 as backup (or vice versa), should have sufficient time to ride out their existing contracts before it is necessary to engage a secondary network provider for redundancy. In light of this, our goal is to assist you with any questions you may have regarding your current contracts, help you diversify your network setup in the long run, and answer any questions you may have regarding this acquisition.

LanYap Networks is here to address any questions or concerns you have and analyze your specific situation to ensure you are positioned for success. Call us at 1-855-4LANYAP or email principals@lanyapnetworks.com.