Nov. 5, 2009 (Business Wire) -- Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today announced that it is expanding its operations and customer support in the greater New York area. Level 3 brings its extensive fiber-optic network, metro assets as well as a locally focused sales and customer support team to deliver a superior experience for mid-market enterprise customers in the New York City, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut areas.

“Despite being in the largest market in the nation, New York businesses are not immune to the need for both a competitive communications alternative and an accessible local support team that understands the unique challenges and opportunities of doing business in this area,” said Ed Grundhauser, Level 3’s New York general manager. "This initiative allows our team to provide enterprise customers with the local expertise and customer focus they’re looking for, along with the full spectrum of communications services they need in a changing communications landscape.”

Level 3 has an extensive network in the New York area, including the five boroughs of New York City, northern New Jersey and southern Connecticut. The network currently passes nearly 50,000 businesses. Level 3 is adding capacity to the network, and will increase the number of businesses that are directly connected to this network, enabling extensive bandwidth scalability and reach of services for businesses in this area.

Level 3's local sales and customer support team will provide consultative expertise to help businesses navigate changes in the way people communicate. Enterprises are witnessing fundamental changes in the way employees use multimedia and collaborative applications on their desktop computers; accordingly, IT organizations are centralizing the delivery of these applications – moving them from the desktop to the network – to increase reliability and better facilitate business continuity and disaster recovery. Both trends drive opportunities for Level 3 to provide a competitive alternative for New York-area businesses and allow them to Link Globally and Connect Locally.

As part of this initiative, Level 3 is realigning its workforce in the New York area to create a better customer experience by deepening customer relationships and leveraging local marketplace knowledge. The company also is redirecting support resources to focus specifically on the mid-market enterprise customer experience in the New York, southern Connecticut and northern New Jersey areas.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) is a leading international provider of fiber-based communications services.