Level 3 Sees Drop in Revenue, IP Traffic exceeds 3.2 petabytes per day

Level 3 Communications reported Q3 revenue of $799 million , compared to $910 million for Q2 2005. Communications revenue was $364 million in the third quarter, versus $371 million for the previous quarter. Information services revenue was $415 million, compared to $520 million for the previous quarter.


The net loss for Q3 2005 was $204 million, or $0.29 per share, compared to a net loss of $188 million or $0.27 per share for the previous quarter.


Significantly, the company noted that its transport, IP and VoIP combined revenue increased by 8 percent, versus second quarter 2005. Communications services revenue excluding termination revenue increased by $4 million, versus the second quarter, primarily due to increases in transport and infrastructure revenue and voice revenue, offset partially by expected declines in managed modem, DSL aggregation and legacy low-speed IP managed services.


IP backbone traffic now exceeds 3.2 petabytes per day.


"Level 3's third quarter performance reflects several positive industry dynamics including continuing strong demand for wholesale communications services and the continuing moderation of price compression," said James Q. Crowe, CEO of Level 3. "We are pleased with the growth in our transport, IP and Voice over IP services during the quarter, and we believe our results point to the improving fundamentals of our business."http://www.level3.com/