AT&T snaps up Lumen’s consumer fiber business for $5.75B

AT&T (NYSE:T) will buy Lumen Technologies’ (NYSE:LUMN) mass markets fiber business for $5.75B, the U.S. telecom said Wednesday.

The news comes months after Lumen’s finance chief, Chris Stansbury, publicly said the fiber business was “a great asset, but an asset that is probably better suited in somebody’s hands that has a wireless offering.”

The deal is expected to be “immaterial” to AT&T’s consolidated adjusted EBITDA, adjusted EPS, and free cash flow and accretive over the long term, about 12-24 months post-closing, and will add about 1M Lumen fiber customers who will soon transition and become AT&T customers, the company said.

AT&T plans to take advantage of Lumen’s fiber construction capabilities and boost its network buildout, which will help it reach about 60M total fiber locations by year-end 2030.

“This deal with Lumen represents a significant investment in U.S. connectivity infrastructure that will create jobs and spur economic activity in numerous regions and major metro areas across 11 states. As we advance our fiber build, we’ll serve more communities with world-class connectivity and expect to roughly double where AT&T Fiber is available by the end of 2030,” AT&T CEO John Stankey said in a statement.

Lumen will provide AT&T long-term access to certain central offices, poles, and conduits and offer transition services and support for up to two years, the company said.

AT&T will hold the purchased assets in a “NetworkCo,” and certain employees will move, or receive offers to move, from Lumen to AT&T or to the new entity as a part of the deal.

After the deal closes with Lumen, AT&T plans to sell a partial stake of “NetworkCo” to an equity partner that will co-invest in the new entity. AT&T expects to identify the equity partner in about 6-12 months of closing the transaction with Lumen.

Upon closing the transaction with the equity partner, AT&T expects “NetworkCo” to be deconsolidated from its financial statements and operate as a wholesale commercial open access platform, with AT&T as the anchor tenant.

The transaction excludes Lumen’s enterprise fiber customers and mass-market copper-based customers.

The AT&T-Lumen transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026.