BROOMFIELD, Colo. -- Level 3 Communications, Inc.(Nasdaq:LVLT) today announced it has signed a new three-year agreement withMicrosoft Corp. Under the terms of the agreement, Level 3 will provide(3)CrossRoads Internet access service in North America for six properties inthe MSN network of Internet services, including MSN Hotmail and MSNMessenger. Combined, MSN Internet properties serve more than 230 millionunique users worldwide.The three-year agreement makes Level 3 one of Microsoft’s primary providersof broadband services. MSN will route significant traffic to the Level 3network for global delivery, beginning with an initial service target ofthree gigabits per second of Level 3’s backbone capacity. These threegigabits represent a large portion of the combined 10 gigabits of total MSNtraffic, and MSN will have the option to use Level 3 for that entire amountin the future if it chooses. A gigabit - equivalent to one billion bits -represents the amount of information transmitted in one second."We look forward to working with Microsoft and supporting their worldwideoffering of Internet services," said Neil Hobbs, group vice president forLevel 3. "As we work with them to meet their rising needs for more bandwidthto serve their growing user base, we believe we will see significant trafficand revenue growth. We appreciate the commitment that Microsoft has made toLevel 3 and will work hard to live up to our commitment to meet theiroutsourcing needs."Level 3 Communications Inc.