Level 3 can ride out local hole in network
11/1/00
By MARK VAN DE KAMP
NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
mvandekamp@newspress.com
A company laying a $3 billion nationwide fiber-optic cable network will continue to service its more than 2,400 business customers without disruption while the network link through Santa Barbara County remains unfinished.
Level 3 Communications today will be forced to stop installing 98 miles of high-speed data and voice lines underground in the county because its permit expires at 5 p.m. Only 43 miles of cable have been put in place since work began in April.
Now company officials are working with various regulatory agencies to craft a winter work plan so they can resume construction on the remaining 55 miles of conduit. The work will likely not be finished by year's end. The local project is one of the last unbuilt links in the company's 16,000-mile network, of which only 800 miles remain incomplete.
While the local work is drawing lots of attention because of environmental violations, the company's customers probably will not notice or be affected by the construction delay.
"We expect this will be invisible to the vast majority of our customers because we are providing services now on network capacity that we're leasing from other carriers," said Level 3 spokesman Arthur Hodges in Broomfield, Colo. "We're doing that so we can offer services during the lengthy construction process."
As construction is completed, the company is activating segments of the network, and is ahead of schedule in doing so. A number of Level 3 services have already been sold, including global wavelengths, private lines and other network services.
Level 3 (ticker symbol LVLT) is a global communications and information services company that offers services primarily to Internet-intensive companies that deliver services over a network. Among its customers are America Online and France Telecom.
Much of the unbuilt local segment runs along the coast in the Union Pacific Railroad right-of-way from Gaviota to the Ventura County line.
The company stopped laying the cable last week after regulators threatened a shutdown because of environmental violations. Kiewit Construction is doing the work; Level 3 will take over the lines when construction finishes.
The stoppage grew out of state Department of Fish and Game complaints that horizontal drilling for the cable included more than 40 leaks of drilling mud at numerous sites along the coast. A county report documented 100 such leaks along the cross-county route, including inland sites. Blame fell on the companies' need for speed.
Before work resumes, regulators insist that the companies revise their work plans to protect the environment. Very stern letters chastising Level 3 and Kiewit were sent by county planners and state biologists to the California Public Utilities Commission.
"We take environmental and cultural preservation very seriously and that will remain a top priority throughout the remainder of this project," said Karen Morales, a spokeswoman for Kiewit in Omaha, Neb. "We will continue to work with the county and the other permitting agencies to establish a future work plan and timetable."
No completion date has been determined for the local segment, and Morales and Hodges did not know what the added cost will be. |
