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Title: AT&T Has $6 Billion Deal To Buy CenturyLink Fiber Broadband
Business

Link: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/05/22/2344...

AT&T is buying CenturyLink's consumer fiber broadband division for $5.75
billion, "giving the internet provider another 1.1 million fiber customers in
11 states," reports Ars Technica. "The all-cash deal is expected to close
during the first half of 2026 assuming the companies obtain regulatory
approval. AT&T will gain new customers in Arizona, Colorado, Florida,
Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington." From
the report: The deal will give AT&T room to grow its user base by more
than the 1.1 million existing CenturyLink customers, as AT&T said the
network areas being sold include over 4 million fiber-enabled locations.
[...] The company, previously called CenturyLink, is officially named Lumen
now but still uses the CenturyLink brand name for home Internet service.
AT&T, which has 9.6 million (PDF) fiber customers and 14.1 million
broadband customers overall, said the infrastructure it is purchasing will
help it expand fiber construction to new locations as well. The deal is also
notable for what it doesn't include: Lumen's enterprise fiber customers and
the old copper DSL lines that were never upgraded to fiber. [...] The deal
seems unlikely to improve matters for CenturyLink copper users. [...] Lumen
will retain the CenturyLink consumer copper broadband and voice services, but
selling the consumer fiber business makes it clear that the telco isn't
focused on residential customers. Lumen said that offloading consumer fiber
lines will help sharpen its focus on selling services to large businesses.
The company is maintaining its business fiber lines. [Ars notes that there
are still nearly 1.4 million CenturyLink copper internet customers that will
likely see service continue to degrade under Lumen's ownership.] "The
transaction will enable AT&T to significantly expand access to AT&T
Fiber in major metro areas like Denver, Las Vegas, Minneapolis-St. Paul,
Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, Salt Lake City and Seattle, as well as additional
geographies," AT&T said. "AT&T will gain access to Lumen's
substantial fiber construction capabilities within its incumbent local
exchange carrier (ILEC) footprint and plans to accelerate the pace at which
fiber is being built in these territories," AT&T said. "AT&T now
expects to reach approximately 60 million total fiber locations by the end of
2030 -- "roughly doubling where AT&T Fiber is available today."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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