The FCC gave the green light to Level 3’s $3...

The FCC gave the green light to Level 3’s $3 billion takeover of Global Crossing. “We conclude that approval of the applications will serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity, and hereby grant the applications,” Wireline Bureau Chief Sharon Gillett said in a memorandum opinion and order and declaratory ruling, dated Wednesday and released Thursday. “We also conclude that, while the merger will result in the loss of one Tier 1 ISP, the record does not support a finding that the merger is likely to result in ’tipping’ of the Internet backbone market, an increase in prices to supra-competitive levels, or lower service quality.” The deal had not faced concentrated opposition. XO Communications briefly filed an opposition to the acquisition, citing Level 3’s lack of a publicly-available template on peering agreements (CD July 11 p3). XO later dropped its opposition, but in any case the commission was “not persuaded by XO’s initial allegations that the combination is likely to harm competition, and thus we do not find cause either to deny the merger or to impose conditions on it,” Gillett wrote. Officials from Level 3 and Global Crossing didn’t comment.