---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <20161216160607.GA23541@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2016 11:06:07 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Level 3 acquisition will completely transform engterprise market If CenturyLink's plan to merge with Level 3 Communications is approved, the combined carrier will get 76% of its revenue from the enterprise and wholesale market, said a Level 3 executive today. After the CenturyLink, Level 3 merger, the combined company would be the most heavily business-focused of the nation's five largest service providers by a long shot, according to data presented by Level 3 Chief Financial Officer Sunit Patel at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Leveraged Finance Conference, which was also webcast. http://www.telecompetitor.com/level-3-acquisition-will-completely-transform-centurylink-enterprise-market/ -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20161216155640.GA23516@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2016 10:56:40 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: Centurylink will reapply to discontinue ATM and Frame Relay CenturyLink wants to shut down its legacy ATM and Frame Relay services - two products that a growing majority of its business customers have transitioned off to Ethernet and IP-based services - so it plans to ask the FCC for permission again to discontinue these services. After initially filing a request to shut down the services in October 2013, the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau (WCB) told CenturyLink that the application would not be "granted automatically." http://www.fiercetelecom.com/telecom/centurylink-to-reapply-for-fcc-permission-to-shut-down-atm-frame-relay-services -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ Message-ID: <20161216155114.GA23494@telecom.csail.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2016 10:51:14 -0500 From: Bill Horne <bill@horneQRM.net> Subject: CenturyLink Files Level 3 Merger With FCC CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications have filed their merger (license transfer) applications with the FCC and their pre-merger notification to the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department. The merger is valued at $34 billion including debt. Along with the AT&T-Time Warner merger, it will be one of the first big media mergers to be vetted primarily under the Donald Trump Administration. Trump has talked about reducing regs but also about blocking consolidation among media outlets. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/washington/centurylink-files-level-3-merger-fcc/161802 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This merger scares me: I think it may herald a return to the roaring 80's, and highly leveraged deals that can endanger investors. Moreover, Level 3 is "the" backbone for a lot of Internet users, and having it in the hands of Centurylink is concerning, since it removes one of the last remaining obstacles to per-packet billing by an ILEC. Centurylink could section the backbones and change them into tollroads that only major ISPs and other big-data players can afford: thus, the company could charge higher rates for "private" lines that serve only to connect the mega-centers, so as to bypass the FCC's Net Neutrality rules. -- Bill Horne (Remove QRM from my email address to write to me directly) ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Sat, 17 Dec 2016