Level 3 revenues rise 1.2%, but debt payback contributes to wider Q1 losses

Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT) reported that revenue rose 1.2 percent sequentially to $1.59 billion in the first quarter of 2012, up from $1.58 billion for Q4 2011, meeting financial analysts' forecasts.

Level 3 q1 2012

Click here for selected slides from Level 3's investor presentation.

During the quarter the Broomfield,Colo.-based company also narrowed its losses to $138 million, or 66 cents per share, from $235 million in Q4 2011.

Financial analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S expected a per-share loss of 60 cents.

Despite the losses, Level 3 saw overall Core Network Services revenue from enterprise customers increase 3 percent sequentially and 11 percent year-over-year.

On a regional basis, Core Network Services in EMEA declined 0.8 percent sequentially from Q4 2011, while rising 2 percent in both North America and Latin America--to $991 million and $172 million, respectively. Although EMEA revenues declined slightly, Level 3 EVP and CEO Sunit Patel said that "the EMEA business has now stabilized, and is positioned for sequential growth."

Looking forward into to the rest of 2012, Patel said he expects Core Network Services revenue "to continue to grow sequentially for the rest of the year."

Of course, the other big part of Level 3's outlook going forward will be the ongoing integration of Global Crossing's assets.

Level 3 President and COO Jeff Storey said in a statement that the company has made continued progress in developing a common services vision and integrating its network with the former Global Crossing.

"We established our product roadmap for 2012 and have already begun to make services such as CDN and collaboration available across our larger network footprint," Storey said. "We continue to integrate our network assets by further interconnecting our networks and optimizing the underlying cost of providing services."

In addition to network and service integration, the service provider has also put together a unified customer survey process that it says will help it oversee customer satisfaction.  

Level 3's shares closed Friday at $25.17, down 0.32, or 1.26 percent, on the New York Stock Exchange.  

For more:
- see the earnings release
- Reuters has this article

Special Report:  Wireline in the first quarter of 2012

Related articles:
Level 3 beats Q3 estimates, but Global Crossing acquisition widens losses
Level 3 boosts CDN capacity to 5.6 Tbps
Level 3 adds to data center in San Francisco, targeting enterprise customers
VSG: AT&T, Level 3 raise global Ethernet profile, while Orange holds first place