Level 3 Seeks to Cease Services, Move to High-Speed IP Network

Willie Nelson, the great American musician so eloquently stated, “Turn out the lights, the party’s over, they say that, all good things must.”  While the quote is a bit dramatic as an opener, it holds much truth as this week Yahoo News reported that Level 3 Communications asked the U.S. telecom regulator Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for permission to end its antiquated time division multiplexing (TDM) technology.

The firm is slated to end services on August 25 of this year, pending approval of course. All users leveraging this outdated technology will move to Level 3’s high-speed IP-based network before the above date.

Already with solid presence in data networks, content distribution, security, managed services, voice as well as cloud and cloud connection, it was time to move away from the legacy analog PBX trunk service in addition to its digital PBX trunk service.

This announcement is simply a sign of the times, service providers are committed to innovation. So, whether it’s the cloud specifically or creating an advanced IP network, the competition is fierce and differentiation is based on two key factors: offerings and customer service. And, in general, the enterprise is migrating from the old to the new, i.e. moving to IP and fiber-based network architecture.

Other companies making a similar commitment include national carriers like Verizon, and Sprint. Verizon is currently in a holding pattern, waiting for approval from the FCC to cease its personal 800 services and postpaid calling cards.  Sprint, on the other hand, seeks to end its long distance voice services.

Innovation truly is a beautiful thing, and as communications move forward the industry can bear witness to the fruit of all this development. Business VoIP is the today, don’t live in yesterday and working with IP-based networks and cloud technologies is certainly a path to the future.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi