The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the sale of Lumen Technologies (NYSE:LUMN) incumbent local exchange carrier (ILEC) businesses in 20 states to Brightspeed, a subsidiary of Apollo-managed funds (NYSE:APO).
The approval is the final hurdle that Lumen and Brightspeed had to cross for the transaction to close, and now pending other customer closing conditions, the transaction is anticipated to close early in Q4.
“The FCC’s approval paves the way for Brightspeed to help close the digital divide in communities across the country that are most in need of high-quality broadband. This is a significant step in our journey to begin serving customers as Brightspeed. We appreciate the efforts of all the regulators and our Lumen counterparts who worked diligently with us over this past year to achieve this milestone. We look forward to building our fibre network and participating in programs that support affordability for our new customers,” said Tom Dailey, Brightspeed vice president of public policy and government affairs.
Lumen Technologies is an American telecommunications company with its headquarters in Monroe, Louisiana. It offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice and managed services. It’s a member of the S&P500 index and the Fortune 500, and its communications services include local and long-distance voice, broadband, multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), as well as private line, Ethernet, hosting, data integration, video, network, VoiP (voice over internet protocol), and other services. It’s reach also includes North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, as well as Asia Pacific.
The tale of the acquisition began on August 3, 2021, when Lumen inked an agreement to sell its local consumer, small business, wholesale and enterprise customer ILEC operations in twenty states to Brightspeed. This way, Brightspeed picks up a local network, operations and back-office support to meet with the increasing demand for high-bandwidth connectivity.
Lumen keeps ILEC operations in 16 states where it can continue to bring fibre broadband to more communities, and Lumen will also keep its national fibre routes and the networks attached to these states, and also all of its international operations.
Brightspeed intends on building an expanded fibre optics network to bring fast, reliable internet and Wi-Fi to communities throughout the 20-states it will be operating in post-acquisition. These plans include fibre facilities to reach up to three million homes and businesses over the next five years, including many rural and suburban locations where fibre and advanced technology are not yet deployed.
“This transaction will benefit all of these customers, both in Lumen’s remaining 16-state footprint and in the 20 states moving to Brightspeed. The FCC’s approval is great news that will bring faster broadband speeds to customers across both companies,” said Melissa Mann, Lumen vice president of public policy and government affairs.
