AT&T has agreed to purchase Lumen Technologies’ consumer fiber business for $5.75 billion, the companies announced Wednesday. The acquisition will give AT&T an additional 1 million fiber customers and bolster its national fiber footprint across several key metro areas.
The deal will significantly expand AT&T’s residential fiber coverage in markets including Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City, and Seattle, according to an AT&T statement.
Lumen’s shares surged 13% in after-hours trading following the announcement.
Strategic Move for Both Companies
The acquisition:
-
Enhances AT&T’s residential broadband scale amid growing demand for high-speed fiber internet.
-
Allows Lumen to streamline its focus on its enterprise fiber business and invest more aggressively in low-latency infrastructure to support AI and multi-cloud environments.
“The customers are asking us to go faster, which is really to deliver their needs in a multi-cloud, AI-first world,” said Lumen CFO Chris Stansbury in an interview with Reuters.
Financial and Operational Impact
Lumen plans to:
-
Use $4.8 billion of the proceeds to reduce its debt burden.
-
Improve annual cash flow by over $300 million, largely by cutting interest expenses.
For AT&T, the newly acquired assets will be placed into a newly formed subsidiary, in which it plans to sell a minority stake, helping manage risk and capital requirements.
The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory approvals.
Industry Context
The deal underscores the growing value of fiber internet infrastructure, as demand for high-speed, low-latency connectivity increases—particularly to support remote work, streaming, gaming, and AI-related data loads.
Reuters first reported in December that Lumen was exploring the sale of its consumer fiber business, which had been viewed as non-core to its future growth strategy.