CenturyLink, Level 3 say they don’t ‘significantly’ compete with each other for business service opportunities

CenturyLink says it does not always compete head to head with Level 3—which it is in the process of acquiring—and that the two companies are providers in an ever-evolving business services market.

In a new Federal Communications Commission filing responding to questions about the markets in which the two providers offer business services, CenturyLink said it and Level 3 offer similar services to small and large businesses, but not in every market. “While CenturyLink and Level 3 offer overlapping services for SMBs and enterprises, they do not significantly compete with each other in the provision of these services,” CenturyLink said. In the fourth quarter of 2016, CenturyLink said it had 28.5% of sales of SMB data 11 services in its ILEC territory, while Level 3 accounted for only 1.1 % of similar service sales. Ethernet is another key factor. CenturyLink noted it had 6.5% of the total US sales of business Ethernet services, and Level 3 accounted for 17.6% of such sales. CenturyLink said it is seeing competition in the business data services (BDS) market from two main sources: cable and national providers.