Lumen Sells Fiber Business to AT&T in $5.75 Billion Deal

Denver, United States – Lumen Technologies is making a major strategic move, announcing an agreement to sell its Mass Markets fiber-to-the-home business, including the Quantum Fiber brand, in eleven states to AT&T.

The cash transaction is valued at $5.75 billion, subject to adjustments. Lumen describes this deal as a significant step in its transformation to focus on enterprise digital networking.

Under the agreement, AT&T will acquire approximately 95% of Quantum Fiber assets within the specified states. As of March 31, 2025, this includes around four million fiber-enabled locations and nearly one million subscribers, which generated over $750 million in annualized revenue in the first quarter of 2025. Lumen expects to continue building new fiber at a similar pace through the end of 2025 before the sale closes.

Lumen emphasized that it will retain core infrastructure essential for its enterprise focus. This includes all national, regional, state, and metro fiber backbone networks, central offices, and associated real estate. Enterprise and wholesale fiber customers will remain with Lumen across all geographies.

The company will also continue to manage its existing copper network, primarily serving residential customers.

The report indicates that Lumen plans to use the approximately $4.2 billion in net proceeds from the sale, along with cash on hand, to pay down about $4.8 billion in superpriority debt. This move is expected to reduce annual interest expenses by roughly $300 million and significantly lower Lumen’s net debt to aEBITDA ratio.

Furthermore, the transaction is anticipated to reduce Lumen’s Mass Markets fiber-related capital spending by around $1 billion annually, freeing up cash flow to accelerate investments in its enterprise offerings and strengthen its financial standing.

“We are sharpening our focus on enterprise customers, and this transaction enhances our financial flexibility, enabling us to reimagine networking for enterprises in a multi-cloud, AI-first world,” said Kate Johnson, president and CEO of Lumen. She added that the retained infrastructure allows Lumen to continue innovating for enterprise customers while the sold fiber business will have greater opportunity to grow with AT&T’s resources.

Following the sale, Lumen intends to expand its nationwide fiber footprint, aiming for 47 million intercity fiber miles by 2028.

The company will also continue to scale its Lumen Digital platform to simplify networking services for businesses and leverage its infrastructure and digital platform to deliver improved performance, capacity, intelligence, and security through new network architectures.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. is a company focused on unleashing digital potential by connecting people, data, and applications quickly, securely, and effortlessly. Positioned as a trusted network for AI, Lumen uses its network scale to help companies leverage AI’s capabilities, providing services from metro connectivity to edge cloud and security.

The transaction is expected to finalize in the first half of 2026, pending necessary approvals and closing conditions.

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