Lumen Reportedly Looking To Sell Consumer Fiber Business

Lumen Technologies is reportedly looking to sell its consumer fiber business to discontinue its legacy mass markets business and cut debt.

That’s according to Reuters, citing people familiar with the matter. The fiber business provides high-speed internet services to residential customers.

We couldn’t reach Lumen for comment on a potential sale.

Lumen Eyes Potential Buyers for Consumer Fiber Biz

According to Reuters, Lumen is working with Goldman Sachs to determine interest in the consumer fiber business. Potential acquirers could include competitors. A sale could net $6 billion to $9 billion, depending on the size and structure of the deal.

In the meantime, Lumen is focused on AI-enabled connectivity. In August, Lumen said it secured $5 billion in new business driven by big demand for connectivity fueled by AI. In addition, Lumen is seeking another $7 billion in sales opportunities to meet the increased customer demand.

Lumen said it will more than double its intercity network miles over the next five years, while also providing access to a large amount of installed dark fiber.

In addition, Lumen secured an agreement with Corning to be its preferred partner for its next-generation fiber-dense cable. That will help accommodate the increased data processing that AI requires, it said.

Related:Lumen Teams with Google Cloud to Optimize Network Insight

For its third quarter ending Sept. 30, Lumen reported a net loss of $148 million, compared to a net loss of $78 million for the year-ago quarter. Revenue was down 11.5% year over year.