Level 3 Providing Dark Fiber to Research and Education Community in California

CENIC Signs 20-Year Fiber Agreements With Level 3

Universities Include Caltech, Stanford, USC and the CSU And University of California Systems

BROOMFIELD, Colo., July 29, 2002 — Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq:LVLT) announced today that it has signed agreements to provide both metropolitan and inter-city dark fiber to CENIC, a non-profit corporation founded by California’s public and private universities.

CENIC (the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California) will use the fiber to create a statewide, multi-tiered, advanced services network linking the top 40 research institutions across the state, including Stanford University, the California Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, the University of California system, and the California State University system. The network will be used for experimental and high capacity research applications. The fiber-based infrastructure will also link all California educational institutions, including 108 community colleges and nearly 8,000 elementary and secondary schools. CENIC’S network is known as CalREN (the California Research and Education Network).

CENIC has purchased metropolitan fiber from Level 3 in San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose as well as inter-city fiber linking those cities with Sacramento, San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles. The multi-million-dollar agreements have a 20-year term.

Today’s announcement follows an earlier agreement for network services between CENIC and Level 3 signed last year. Under that contract, CENIC is using IP service from Level 3 to provide Internet access for more than seven million students and faculty at California institutions.

“We are very pleased that CENIC has once again chosen Level 3 to be a provider of network services, representing as it does many of the world’s most recognized and prestigious academic institutions,” said Jack Waters, Level 3’s chief technology officer. “The research and education sector has played a seminal role in the creation of the Internet and Internet Protocol, and we believe it will be an increasingly important source of demand for network services in the future. CENIC is a national leader in the deployment and management of academic research networks, and we look forward to helping them create an advanced, secure and dependable communications infrastructure.”

“CENIC is embarking on a truly new approach to network operations and management for the research and education community. Our agreements with Level 3 for securing dedicated dark fiber are crucial to the deployment of our three-tiered optical network architecture to serve all research and education in California. We think we have developed an infrastructure to provide relevant network resources to a very broad and diverse constituency. Finalizing these agreements with Level 3 is a huge milestone,” said Thomas W. West, CENIC's president and chief executive officer.

CENIC was formed to coordinate the deployment, development, and operation of seamless and robust network services for all academic institutions throughout the state. More information about CENIC is available at www.cenic.org.

About Level 3 Communications

Level 3 (Nasdaq:LVLT) is an international communications and information services company offering a wide selection of services including IP services, broadband transport, colocation services and the industry’s first Softswitch based services. Its Web address is www.Level3.com.

The company offers information services through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, (i)Structure, Corporate Software and Software Spectrum. (i)Structure is an Application Infrastructure Provider that provides managed IT infrastructure services and enables businesses to outsource IT operations. Its Web address is www.i-structure.com. Corporate Software and Software Spectrum help Fortune 500 companies acquire, implement, and manage software. Their Web addresses are www.corporatesoftware.com and www.softwarespectrum.com.

Forward Looking Statement:
Some of the statements made by Level 3 in this press release are forward-looking in nature. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Level 3 believes that its primary risk factors include, but are not limited to: changes in the overall economy relating to, among other things, the September 11 attacks and subsequent events, substantial capital requirements; development of effective internal processes and systems; the ability to attract and retain high quality employees; technology; the number and size of competitors in its markets; law and regulatory policy; and the mix of products and services offered in the company's target markets. Additional information concerning these and other important factors can be found within Level 3’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this release should be evaluated in light of these important factors.