Level 3 to buy Tulsa's WilTel for about $680-million in cash, stock

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) _ Level 3 Communications says it'll pay $680-million for the Internet access and services company, WilTel Communications Group. <br/><br/>Level 3 will pay $370-million cash,

Monday, October 31st 2005, 10:27 am

By: News On 6

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) _ Level 3 Communications says it'll pay $680-million for the Internet access and services company, WilTel Communications Group.

Level 3 will pay $370-million cash, and issue 115-million shares in the deal.

The Broomfield-based company operates Internet protocol-based fiber-optic networks.

WilTel is headquartered in Tulsa, and delivers voice, data, video and IP services over a next-generation fiber-optic network.

WilTel is a subsidiary of New York-based Leucadia National Corporation.

The acquisition includes all of WilTel's communications business, including a multiyear contract with SBC Communications, and WilTel's Vyvx video transmission business.

The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2006.

Level 3 president and Chief Operating Officer Kevin O'Hara says the combined companies will reach 50 new markets and include three-thousand new route miles, compared with Level 3's pre-acquisition facilities.