AT&T Closes $5.75B Purchase Of Lumen Technologies’ Mass Markets Fiber Business

Via the sale of its consumer business, Lumen is now almost solely focused on business customers and growth through strategic network services in the AI era, according to the service provider.

AT&T is officially the new owner of Lumen Technologies’ 11-state mass market fiber-to-home business, the two companies announced on Monday.

Lumen, via the sale of its consumer business, is now almost solely focused on business customers. According to the terms of the deal, Lumen has retained the core infrastructure used for enterprise customers, while Dallas-based AT&T will get about 95 percent of Quantum Fiber, about 4 million fiber locations and about 1 million subscribers. Lumen will keep enterprise fiber customers and mass market copper-based customers, the companies said.

“The divestiture of our consumer fiber-to-the-home business marks a pivotal moment for Lumen. We are doubling down on where we are strongest and where the opportunity is greatest for us – powering the digital infrastructure that enterprises and public sector organizations need to win in the AI era,” said Lumen CEO Kate Johnson in a statement on the close of the deal.

Johnson, who has been at the helm of Lumen for three years, has been pushing the company toward transformation to shift the legacy telecom provider, made up of CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications assets, toward value-added, strategic network services for enterprises leveraging the company’s vast fiber footprint.

Lumen’s growth strategy is now centered on building out its high-capacity, low-latency network to support AI, the company’s digital platform, and it’s connected ecosystem, a way for customers to purchase, provision and manage their network services as easily as they do their cloud solutions.

Today, Lumen counts close to 1,000 large enterprises and well-known brands as current NaaS customers, including GE Vernova, Best Buy, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Lumen confirmed its plan to sell its consumer business to AT&T in May 2025 after reports first surfaced in March.

For AT&T, the deal gives the carrier more than 1 million new fiber subscribers across more than 4 million fiber locations in new major metro areas like Denver, Seattle, and Salt Lake City.

“AT&T Fiber – America’s best and top-rated technology for getting on the internet – will be available to millions more people as we expand the service in 32 states. This investment will create good-paying jobs, boost U.S. connectivity and bring the benefits of high-speed connections to more communities across the country,” AT&T’s CEO John Stankey said in a statement on Monday.

AT&T reported its fourth-quarter and full-year earnings last week. The carrier posted revenues of $33.47 billion, up 3.6 percent year over year during its final fiscal quarter of the year, which the carrier attributed to higher converged fiber and 5G customers. For the full 2025 year, revenue totaled $125.65 billion, up 2.7 percent in 2024 which the company said was driven by fiber consumer and business subscriptions and converged services.

Monroe, La.-based Lumen Technologies will report its Q4 2025 and full-year earnings on Tuesday evening.