Fair Value of Financial Instruments

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2014

The Company’s financial instruments consist of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and securities, accounts receivable, accounts payable, capital leases, other liabilities, interest rate swaps and long-term debt (including the current portion). The carrying values of cash and cash equivalents, restricted cash and securities, accounts receivable, accounts payable, capital leases and other liabilities approximated their fair values at December 31, 2014 and 2013.

GAAP defines fair value as the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. When determining the fair value measurements and disclosures for assets and liabilities required to be recorded at fair value, the Company considers the principal or most advantageous market in which it would transact and considers assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability, such as interest and foreign exchange rates, transfer restrictions, and risk of nonperformance.

Fair Value Hierarchy

GAAP establishes a fair value hierarchy that requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. The fair value measurement of each class of assets and liabilities is dependent upon its categorization within the fair value hierarchy, based upon the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement of each class of asset and liability. GAAP establishes three levels of inputs that may be used to measure fair value:

Level 1— Unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.

Level 2— Unadjusted quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets, or

unadjusted quoted prices for identical or similar assets or liabilities in markets that are not active, or inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability.

Level 3— Unobservable inputs for the asset or liability.

The Company recognizes transfers between levels of the fair value hierarchy as of the end of the reporting period. There were no transfers within the fair value hierarchy during each of the years ended December 31, 2014 and 2013.

The table below presents the fair values for the Company’s long-term debt as well as the input levels used to determine these fair values as of December 31, 2014 and 2013:



					Fair Value Measurement Using
	Total Carrying Value in Consolidated Balance Sheets				Unadjusted Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets or Liabilities (Level 1)				Significant Other Observable Inputs (Level 2)
(dollars in millions)	December 31, 2014		December 31, 2013		December 31, 2014		December 31, 2013		December 31, 2014		December 31, 2013
Liabilities Not Recorded at Fair Value in the Financial Statements:
Long-term Debt, including the current portion:
Term Loans	$	4,590	$	2,604	$	4,593	$	2,633	$	—	$	—
Senior Notes	6,203		5,198		6,481		5,673		—		—
Convertible Notes	333		474		—		—		868		647
Capital Leases and Other	207		86		—		—		207		86
Total Long-term Debt, including the current portion:	$	11,333	$	8,362	$	11,074	$	8,306	$	1,075	$	733

The Company does not have any assets or liabilities where the fair value is measured using significant unobservable inputs (Level 3).

Term Loans

The fair value of the Term Loans referenced above was approximately $4.6 billion and $2.6 billion at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively. The fair value of each loan is based on quoted prices for identical terms and maturities. Each loan tranche is actively traded.

Senior Notes

The fair value of the Senior Notes referenced above was approximately $6.5 billion and $5.7 billion at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively, based on quoted prices for identical terms and maturities. Each series of notes is actively traded.

Convertible Notes

The fair value of the Company’s Convertible Notes that are not actively traded, which includes the 7% Convertible Senior Notes due 2015 and the 7% Convertible Senior Notes due 2015, Series B, was approximately $868 million and $647 million at December 31, 2014 and 2013, respectively. In the fourth quarter of 2014, the Company issued approximately 5 million shares of common stock when holders of approximately $142 million in the aggregate of its 7% Convertible Senior Notes due 2015 and 7% convertible Senior Notes due 2015, Series B converted these notes.

The estimated fair value of the Convertible Notes that are not actively traded is based on a Black-Scholes valuation model and an income approach using discounted cash flows. The most significant inputs affecting the valuation are the pricing quotes provided by market participants that incorporate spreads to the Treasury curve, security coupon (7%), convertible optionality, corporate and security credit ratings, maturity date, liquidity, and other equity option inputs, such as the risk-free rate, underlying stock price, strike price of the embedded derivative, estimated volatility and maturity inputs for the option component and for the bond component, among other security characteristics and relative value at both the borrower entity level and across other securities with similar terms. The fair value of each instrument is obtained by adding together the value derived by discounting the security’s coupon or interest payment using a risk-adjusted discount rate and the value calculated from the embedded equity option based on the estimated volatility of the Company’s stock price, conversion rate of the particular Convertible Note, remaining time to maturity, and risk-free rate. The Convertible Notes are unsecured obligations of Level 3 Communications, Inc. No subsidiary of Level 3 Communications, Inc. has provided a guarantee of the Convertible Notes.

Capital Leases

The fair value of the Company's capital leases are determined by discounting anticipated future cash flows derived from the contractual terms of the obligations and observable market interest and foreign exchange rates.

- Definition

The entire disclosure for the fair value of financial instruments (as defined), including financial assets and financial liabilities (collectively, as defined), and the measurements of those instruments as well as disclosures related to the fair value of non-financial assets and liabilities. Such disclosures about the financial instruments, assets, and liabilities would include: (1) the fair value of the required items together with their carrying amounts (as appropriate); (2) for items for which it is not practicable to estimate fair value, disclosure would include: (a) information pertinent to estimating fair value (including, carrying amount, effective interest rate, and maturity, and (b) the reasons why it is not practicable to estimate fair value; (3) significant concentrations of credit risk including: (a) information about the activity, region, or economic characteristics identifying a concentration, (b) the maximum amount of loss the entity is exposed to based on the gross fair value of the related item, (c) policy for requiring collateral or other security and information as to accessing such collateral or security, and (d) the nature and brief description of such collateral or security; (4) quantitative information about market risks and how such risks are managed; (5) for items measured on both a recurring and nonrecurring basis information regarding the inputs used to develop the fair value measurement; and (6) for items presented in the financial statement for which fair value measurement is elected: (a) information necessary to understand the reasons for the election, (b) discussion of the effect of fair value changes on earnings, (c) a description of [similar groups] items for which the election is made and the relation thereof to the balance sheet, the aggregate carrying value of items included in the balance sheet that are not eligible for the election; (7) all other required (as defined) and desired information.

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