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Technology Stocks : (LVLT) - Level 3 Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Diana R. Chambers who wrote (889)	4/24/1998 3:46:00 PM
From: Phil Jacobson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3873

Diana, With regard to LVLT it'll be business only, similar to MFS. The last mile issue is what the CLEC business is all about. Alternative access to dial tone and other public networks instead of getting it from the RBOCs. What I understand to be the main difference between LVLT and QWST is that QWST is focused on the network backbone that connects cities while LVLT will concentrate on the fiber rings around metro areas (similar to what Metromedia Fiber does and MFS did) to provide alternative local access. In addition LVLT will then connect the rings and provide end to end service on their own facilities so a customer doesn't need both a local and long distance company. How they do this is where QWST can really fit. Instead of building the backbone themselves LVLT could get access to the QWST backbone in exchange for giving QWST favorable rates for reselling LVLT access to end users. Both companies will want to be able to sell to the end user and provide complete end to end connectivity. Playing out the scenario further I think companies that tend to need lots of backbone and not as much on the local side (like carriers) would buy from QWST. Customers with lots of large branch offices or massive data transfers between local sites will tend to buy from LVLT. There's a lot of room for cooperation or even merger if they can avoid issues of ego and such. Regards, Phil