06 October 2011

Telecommunications firm Level 3 Communications Inc., which earlier this week closed its $2 billion purchase of New Jersey-based Global Crossing, is for the moment to maintain its offices in downtown Miami and Buenos Aires, Argentina responsible for the region stretching from Florida to the Southern Cone of Latin America.

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“For the time being we’re not expecting any changes in the way we’re covering the markets,” said Hector Alonso, regional president of Latin American markets for Level 3. Though there “may be some synergies” that arise as the two companies merge.

The new company has about 11,000 employees worldwide and the move could mean hundreds of in the U.S., various sources reported.

Level 3 agreed to buy Global Crossing, with its office in downtown Miami’s Network Access Point of the Americas staffed by about 80, in April. Shareholders approved the move in August and the Federal Communications Commission cleared it last week on Thursday. The new company is to maintain Level 3’s brand and will move its listing from the New York Stock Exchange to the Nasdaq Global Select Market effective Oct. 20.

Prior to the acquisition, Alonso was managing director for Global Crossing’s Latin America region, which stretched from the Southern Cone to the northern part of the continent. Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean and Florida, meanwhile, were handled out of its Miami office.

The combined company is to have more than 165,000 miles of fiber creating a web across 45 countries and “we will be adding kilometers of fiber in the coming years,” Alonso said.

As far as which markets in Latin America it will be looking to lay more fiber and cable “clearly Brazil is at the top,” he added. “That’s where the large part of our investment is going to, however, Colombia and Argentina” will be there too. Other markets where Level 3 plans to invest in infrastructure are Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela.

Meanwhile, the major industry markets for Level 3 include the financial sectors of all countries, food, energy, media, Internet and cell phone service providers, and governments.

Global Crossing’s clients, in 2010, include First Overseas bank, Bancolombia and Certifica, according to a report in Miami Today.

Global Crossing posted 2010 revenues of $2.61 billion while Level 3 Communications’ were $3.65 billion, including $60 million from coal mining activities. Level 3, according to report at Forbes.com has 3.1 billion shares on the market, which will be reduced to about 207 million via a 1-to-15 stock split after markets close Oct. 19

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