Carrier`s carrier ixc Communications Inc.,

Austin, TX, has struck a deal with Internet service provider psinet Inc., Herndon, VA, in which ixc will gain a 20% share of psinet`s common stock in exchange for 10,000 route-mi of ixc`s OC-48-equivalent (2.5-Gbit/sec) optical fiber. psinet will receive the capacity over 20 years; if the value of the psinet common stock falls below $240 million at one year following delivery of the entire transmission capacity, psinet has agreed to make up the difference in cash or additional stock. The two companies also agreed to market each other`s products. ixc chairman and chief executive Ralph Swett, who will become a member of psinet`s board of directors, says his company had been looking to add Internet services to its product portfolio for some time. Meanwhile, psinet chairman, president, and chief executive William L. Schrader says that the jump to OC-48 was significant to his firm`s ability to meet increasing demand for Internet bandwidth.