Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications announced Monday that it signed a one-year agreement to provide high-speed Internet access service to more than 3 million students and faculty in California.

The contract is with the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, a nonprofit organization formed by the California Institute of Technology, the California State University, Stanford University, the University of California and the University of Southern California.

Level 3 officials said they couldn't disclose the value of the agreement.

"I can tell you it's a meaningful contract and in many ways is comparable and similar to the Microsoft agreement we announced in June," said Level 3 spokesman Paul Lonnegren. In June, Level 3 announced an agreement to be a primary carrier of MSN Hotmail and Messenger.

Tom West, president of the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California, said Level 3 was selected to handle the nonprofit's network traffic because of its experience, expertise and good infrastructure.

Still, Level 3 investors didn't react to Monday's announcement. Shares of Level 3 closed virtually unchanged at $4.61, down 1 cent.

Level 3 has announced a number of new contracts with the likes of Verizon, EarthLink and Microsoft in the past couple of months, after cutting its work force nearly 25 percent to conserve cash. But it is difficult to assess the significance of the contracts, because their values haven't been disclosed. And Level 3 stock has declined further, from $5.97 a share, since its layoff announcement.

Of 21 leading analysts following Level 3, 13 currently rate the stock a "hold," six a "buy," and two a "sell."