1. Lumen is adding 34 million new intercity fiber miles by 2028. 2. Company reported 5.9+ Pbps capacity increase for AI workloads. 3. Investment of $100 million for high-speed connectivity of 400Gbps underway. 4. Lumen positions itself as a trusted network for AI innovations. 5. Construction at 176 sites for signal boosters enhances network performance.
Lumen's extensive network expansion aligns with increasing AI demand, enhancing competitive advantage. Historical expansions often lead to price increases, as seen in telecom growth phases.
The significant network investment indicates growth potential, making LUMN appealing for investors. However, the long-term realization of benefits might temper immediate stock price reactions.
The infrastructure changes will take time to fully realize revenue potential, typically reflecting in stock prices over several quarters or years, particularly as the AI market grows.
Progress in 2025 includes millions of new fiber miles, significant added network capacity, and coast-to-coast build momentum
Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) today announced significant progress in its multi-year effort to build the backbone for the AI economy. With construction underway coast-to-coast, Lumen is moving forward a multi-billion-dollar build with plans to add 34 million new intercity fiber miles by the end of 2028, for a total of 47 million intercity fiber miles. The company has already delivered millions of new fiber miles, network capacity upgrades and high-speed connectivity enhancements in 2025, building the network infrastructure enterprises need to power their AI workloads.
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Infographic: Lumen accelerates multi-billion-dollar network expansion to meet soaring AI demand
"AI is fueling a surge in network demand like we've never seen, and Lumen is building the backbone to meet it," said Kye Prigg, executive vice president, enterprise operations, Lumen Technologies. "This isn't incremental – we plan to more than double the size of our U.S. network. We're positioning Lumen as the trusted network for AI, ensuring our customers have the network scale, speed, and reliability to confidently innovate and grow without constraints."
2025 milestones on the road to 47 million intercity fiber miles1:
Extended Faster Speeds: Earmarked more than $100 million to bring high-speed connectivity up to 400Gbps across clouds, data centers, and metros, creating a more seamless, high-performance pipeline for AI workloads. The Lumen 400G-enabled network now spans more than 100,000 route miles.
Lumen Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) is designed for AI workloads. By using fiber with 25% less optical loss than competitors2 and 60% more capacity than traditional designs, PCF helps move data more efficiently and at greater scale. The Lumen network achieves latency less than five milliseconds at the edge, covering up to 97% of U.S. business demand. And with diverse routes connecting more than 50 major cities, Lumen operates the largest ultra-low-loss intercity fiber network in North America.
"Every mile of new fiber and capacity upgrade adds to the strength of our Private Connectivity Fabric. Lumen is doing more than expanding infrastructure, we're laying the foundation for the AI economy," added Prigg.
Discover how Lumen is executing its Big Build
Learn more about Lumen network investments
1 – All figures as of 9/1/25 |
2- 25% less fiber optic loss per km; less loss translates to less frequent need for fiber optic signal regeneration, decreasing equipment costs; figure is based on a comparison to vintage 2000 fiber (decrease from .22 db/km loss to.17 db/km). |
About Lumen Technologies
Lumen is unleashing the world's digital potential. We ignite business growth by connecting people, data, and applications – quickly, securely, and effortlessly. As the trusted network for AI, Lumen uses the scale of our network to help companies realize AI's full potential. From metro connectivity to long-haul data transport to our edge cloud, security, managed service, and digital platform capabilities, we meet our customers' needs today and as they build for tomorrow. For news and insights visit news.lumen.com, LinkedIn: /lumentechnologies, X: @lumentechco, Facebook: /lumentechnologies, Instagram: @lumentechnologies, and YouTube: /lumentechnologies
This press release includes certain forward-looking statements about future events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results, are based on our current expectations only and are subject to various uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated by us in these statements due to several factors, including those referenced in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Courtney Morton
Courtney.morton@lumen.com
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