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CenturyLink To Buy Level 3 For $34 Billion, Create a More Formidable Competitor To AT&T (bloomberg.com)
In what is seen as a move to build a more formidable competitor to AT&T, rival CenturyLink today announced it is buying Level 3 Communications for about $34 billion in cash and stock. From a report on Bloomberg: Both companies have amassed giant networks to haul internet traffic through deals over the years. Level 3 is one of the largest providers used by internet services including Netflix and Google to route traffic across the web, operations that would bolster CenturyLink's core offerings to businesses. Level 3 was the second-biggest U.S. provider of ethernet services -- running high-bandwidth internet connections for companies -- in the first half of this year, trailing only AT&T, according to Vertical Systems Group. CenturyLink was fifth on the list.
More formidable competitor? Those assholes can't even be bothered to repair their broken pedestal covers throughout the city! They're literally leaving their twisted-pair splice points open to the weather!
They've made a choice to not maintain their network infrastructure, both for legacy and for their DSL broadband customer base. Why should we trust them do do any better with anything else, let alone a build-out that's not even really that far along yet?
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.