Level 3 Communications (NYSE: LVLT) on Monday announced an arrangement with Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) to help the cable MSO expand its national network and provide core infrastructure services.
The service provider said its core infrastructure services will help Time Warner Cable enhance network redundancy and reliability.
Another key piece of the relationship with Time Warner Cable is that they have updated their peering arrangement to exchange IP traffic between their respective backbone networks.
Strengthening the relationship with another major cable operator such as Time Warner Cable could possibly lead to other new agreements with other cable operators.
While Level 3 has been providing cable operators with backbone and transit services for years, its relationships in the cable industry, particularly with Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), have been somewhat strained.
The competitive-fiber provider and Comcast have been in an ongoing dispute over carrying Netflix streaming video traffic. Level 3 argued that Comcast was restricting its Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX)-heavy video traffic for competitive reasons. Comcast, of course, countered that Level 3 is sending more traffic than it receives back.
At this time it's not clear whether or not Comcast and Level 3 have resolved their dispute yet.
For more:
- see the release
Special report: Wireline in the second quarter of 2012
Related articles:
Level 3 reports $1.59B in Q2 revenues, but slow UK government sales drive losses
Level 3's forecast reaffirmation buoys shares 9%
Submarine cable operators protest FCC's USF contribution proposal
Level 3 takes on Latin America's data center market
Level 3, Verizon focus on serving France-based MNCs