AT&T acquiring Quantum Fiber from CenturyLink’s owner for $5.75 billion

Lumen Technologies the successor of Qwest Communications International and owner of CenturyLink has reached an agreement to sell its consumer fiber business called Quantum Fiber to AT T for billion in cash the two companies disclosed Wednesday AT T will obtain accounts for nearly million fiber subscribers across more than million locations with Quantum Fiber in states and plans to transfer them to its AT T Fiber structure after the deal is completed in the first half of Lumen has been actively expanding its high-speed Quantum Fiber grid to more homes in metro Denver switching over CenturyLink s fiber and copper phone and DSL customers when it reaches them AT T Fiber will gain greater access to residential and small-business customers in Denver Las Vegas Minneapolis-St Paul Orlando Phoenix Portland Salt Lake City and Seattle while Lumen will pay down debt and devote more materials to its backbone fiber framework and to large records users We are sharpening our focus on enterprise customers and this transaction enhances our financial flexibility enabling us to reimagine networking for enterprises in a multi-cloud AI-first world revealed Kate Johnson president and CEO of Lumen in a news release Lumen Technologies is based in Monroe La the home of CenturyLink a legacy phone facility provider But the company maintains a large employee presence in Denver which is where its fiber framework originated via Qwest and Broomfield-based Level Communications Lumen revealed it plans to use billion from the sale and cash on hand to pay down billion in debt reducing its interest expenses by million a year The sale frees up billion a year that Lumen was spending to build its mass sector fiber infrastructure but will cost the company million a year in revenues The purchase represents a small-scale coming full circle of sorts AT T spun off Mountain Bell and other baby bells in because of antitrust concerns The rebranded US West merged with Qwest a pioneering fiber optic system provider in in a billion stock deal CenturyLink purchased Qwest for billion in It added Level Communications another broadband provider in a cash and stock deal valued at billion in AT T will soon gain the last-mile communications arrangement and residential customers several acquisitions and technological innovations removed that descended from one of the baby bells it was forced to put up for adoption four decades ago Related Articles Englewood-based EchoStar despite bumps in the road is on the upswing Star Wars Star Trek mashup part of architect s bold look for aerospace company We re leading the race to connect more Americans with fiber the best broadband connectivity apparatus available mentioned John Stankey AT T s chairman and CEO commented in a news release This deal with Lumen represents a major venture in U S connectivity infrastructure that will create jobs and spur economic activity in numerous regions and major metro areas across states Stankey mentioned AT T Fiber plans to double its organization by the end of If so more homes and businesses across the state could receive direct fiber access More than a dozen fiber-to-the-home providers are functioning in Colorado the largest being Quantum Fiber But they cover only about half the state according to the website Best Neighborhoods Quantum Fiber has full or near-full coverage in numerous Denver neighborhoods But its reach is spottier in the outer suburbs other parts of the Front Range and along the I- corridor It is largely absent in rural areas