Bloomberg Businessweek Lumen Overhauls Debt Load With Eye on Growth
Oct 14, 2025
Lumen Technologies discusses its recent debt restructuring, saving $24 million annually in interest expenses. CFO Chris Stansbury highlights the company’s strategic pivot towards AI multi-cloud networking and leasing fiber to hyperscalers. The conversation touches on the impacts of recent tax law changes and how they encourage infrastructure investments. Insights into the telecom landscape and Lumen's evolving strategy wrap up this informative session.
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Building A Mesh For AI Workloads
- Lumen is building a low-latency mesh to move AI workloads quickly between data centers.
- This mesh addresses latency and access limits of legacy networks and supports continuous GPU utilization.
Debt Restructuring Fueled Monetization
- Lumen executed what Chris calls the largest out-of-debt restructuring in history to push maturities out.
- That restructuring funded deals that monetized 25-year-old conduit and enabled further refinancing.
Monetize Existing Conduit Quickly
- Lumen monetized existing conduit by signing large deals with hyperscalers to blow fiber through existing routes.
- This allowed rapid capacity expansion without building entirely new infrastructure.