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Earlier this year, Lumen completed the $5.75 billion sale of its consumer fiber-to-the-home business across 11 states to AT&T. Looking at that transaction alone, it would be easy to assume Lumen was pulling back from fiber.

The bigger picture tells a very different story.

Lumen says it had deployed roughly 17 million intercity fiber miles by the end of 2025. The company is targeting 47 million by the end of 2028 and approximately 58 million by 2031. At the same time, Lumen is investing in Network-as-a-Service, cloud networking, automation, and software designed to make that physical infrastructure more flexible.

A major reason behind that strategy is artificial intelligence. AI infrastructure doesn't stop at GPUs and data centers. Massive amounts of information have to move between clouds, data centers, AI workloads, offices, and edge environments. That creates a different networking challenge, and Lumen is betting that the network itself needs to become more programmable to handle it.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Lumen Didn't Get Out of Fiber

Selling its consumer fiber-to-the-home assets to AT&T represented a significant change in Lumen's business, but it did not mean abandoning fiber infrastructure.

Lumen retained its national, regional, state, and metro backbone infrastructure. Its strategy is increasingly centered on enterprise connectivity and the infrastructure required to move enormous amounts of data between businesses, data centers, cloud environments, and AI workloads.

AI Needs More Than Compute

Much of the AI infrastructure conversation focuses on GPUs, computing capacity, electricity, and data centers.

But those systems also need to communicate with one another. Training, inference, cloud applications, enterprise systems, and distributed computing environments can generate enormous amounts of network traffic.

That makes connectivity another critical piece of AI infrastructure.

Enterprise Bandwidth Requirements Are Growing

Research from IDC cited by Lumen found that 37% of surveyed enterprises experienced bandwidth requirements increasing by more than 50% year over year.

Another 29% reported difficulty aligning their networks with AI workloads.

Those figures illustrate the challenge. Businesses aren't simply asking for faster internet connections. They're dealing with increasingly complex environments where traffic needs can change rapidly depending on applications, workloads, and where computing resources are located.

Lumen Is Dramatically Expanding Its Intercity Fiber Network

Lumen says it had approximately 17 million intercity fiber miles deployed at the end of 2025.

Its target is 47 million by the end of 2028 and approximately 58 million by 2031.

That expansion reflects a simple reality about digital infrastructure: software can make networks more intelligent, but enormous amounts of physical fiber are still required to move data between major computing environments.

Enterprise Traffic Is Becoming More Complex

A traditional business network might connect an office to the internet, several branches back to headquarters, and the organization to a data center.

Today's enterprise environment can involve AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, private data centers, SaaS platforms, remote offices, edge computing, and AI infrastructure simultaneously.

Data increasingly needs to move between those environments rather than simply traveling from an office to one centralized destination and back.

Network-as-a-Service Changes How Connectivity Is Purchased

Traditional enterprise connectivity can require ordering circuits, provisioning services, configuring equipment, and waiting for changes to be implemented.

Network-as-a-Service introduces a more flexible model.

Instead of treating network capacity as something relatively static, businesses can increasingly provision and manage connectivity through digital interfaces. Lumen reported surpassing 3,000 Network-as-a-Service customers during the second quarter of 2026, showing growing interest in this model.

Alkira Adds a Software Layer to Lumen's Network Strategy

Lumen's acquisition of cloud-networking company Alkira helps explain another piece of its strategy.

Alkira provides software for connecting cloud environments, data centers, sites, partners, and other infrastructure. Combined with Lumen's physical network, that creates the possibility of managing complex connectivity through a software control layer.

The fiber still carries the data. Software increasingly determines how that connectivity is configured and used.

Intelligent Internet Brings Cloud Economics to Connectivity

Lumen's Intelligent Internet offering pushes this idea further by allowing enterprise customers to scale bandwidth as their requirements change.

The New York Yankees provide an interesting example. Yankee Stadium requires significantly more network capacity around games and events than it does when the facility is closed.

Instead of permanently maintaining capacity for peak demand, a programmable network can potentially increase capacity when it's needed and reduce it afterward.

That's similar to what cloud computing did for compute resources: use more when you need more and scale back when you don't.

APIs Could Become Part of the Network

One of the biggest changes may be how businesses interact with connectivity itself.

APIs can allow applications and software platforms to request network resources without someone manually initiating every change. As networking becomes more programmable, connectivity can potentially respond to business and application requirements dynamically.

That moves the network closer to the operating model businesses already expect from cloud infrastructure.

Physical Infrastructure Isn't Going Away

Programmable networking doesn't eliminate the need for fiber.

It arguably makes physical infrastructure even more important.

AI workloads can generate tremendous amounts of data, and software cannot move that information without the underlying network capacity. The emerging model combines massive physical infrastructure with software capable of controlling it more dynamically.

 

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For years, satellite internet and traditional telecommunications occupied different parts of the connectivity market. Fiber and wireless networks served locations with terrestrial infrastructure, while satellite provided an alternative for places those networks couldn't easily reach.

That distinction is becoming much less clear.

AT&T Business has announced a strategic agreement with Amazon Leo that will integrate low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband into an enterprise connectivity architecture already built around fiber and 5G. Meanwhile, SpaceX continues expanding its ambitions for Starlink Mobile beyond traditional satellite service, including next-generation direct-to-cell technology and plans involving terrestrial wireless infrastructure.

Amazon is moving in a similar direction with direct-to-device capabilities of its own. Put those developments together and a larger trend emerges: fiber, wireless, and satellite are beginning to function less like competing categories and more like pieces of a broader connectivity ecosystem.

For Authorized Dealers, that shift could eventually change the customer conversation. The opportunity may become less about selling an individual connection and more about understanding where customers need connectivity, what happens when their primary connection fails, and which combination of technologies can keep them connected.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

AT&T Business Is Bringing Satellite Into Its Connectivity Architecture

AT&T Business's agreement with Amazon Leo is an example of satellite connectivity becoming part of a broader enterprise networking strategy.

The planned offering combines Amazon Leo's low-Earth-orbit satellite broadband with AT&T's existing fiber and 5G capabilities. Rather than positioning satellite as an entirely separate service, the strategy treats it as another way to extend connectivity where terrestrial networks may be unavailable, impractical, or in need of backup.

Why Low-Earth-Orbit Satellite Is Different

Traditional satellite internet has historically faced challenges including higher latency because signals travel much greater distances to satellites positioned far above Earth.

Low-Earth-orbit, or LEO, networks operate much closer to the planet. That architecture can reduce latency and make satellite broadband practical for a broader range of applications.

As LEO networks continue developing, the distinction between a traditional broadband connection and a satellite connection could become less important to customers than whether the service delivers the connectivity they need.

Satellite Can Become Part of a Resilience Strategy

One of the most interesting applications isn't necessarily replacing fiber or 5G. It's supporting them.

A business might rely on fiber as its primary connection while using satellite as a backup path if that terrestrial connection becomes unavailable. Other organizations may need connectivity at temporary worksites, remote facilities, agricultural operations, or locations beyond traditional network coverage.

In those situations, different technologies can complement one another instead of competing for the same role.

Starlink Is Moving Toward the Traditional Wireless Market

SpaceX's ambitions for Starlink increasingly extend beyond providing broadband through dedicated satellite equipment.

The company's next-generation Direct to Cell strategy is designed around connecting standard mobile phones and IoT devices through satellites. SpaceX has also discussed terrestrial wireless infrastructure, further narrowing the traditional distinction between a satellite provider and a wireless carrier.

The direction is important even if the technology and business models continue evolving. Satellite companies are increasingly interested in parts of the connectivity market traditionally served by terrestrial wireless providers.

Amazon Leo Is Developing Direct-to-Device Connectivity

Amazon's satellite ambitions also extend beyond fixed broadband. Its plans include direct-to-device connectivity designed to support services such as voice, messaging, data, and emergency communications on compatible devices.

That creates another potential bridge between satellite networks and the traditional mobile ecosystem.

Instead of thinking about satellite solely as internet service for remote buildings, the industry is increasingly exploring how satellites can become another layer of mobile connectivity.

Connectivity Is Becoming More About the Customer Than the Network

Customers generally don't organize their technology needs around telecom industry categories.

A business owner doesn't necessarily wake up wanting fiber, 5G, or satellite. They want employees connected, applications working, transactions processing, equipment communicating, and operations continuing when something goes wrong.

That means the better sales conversation may increasingly begin with the customer's connectivity requirements rather than the technology being sold.

Remote Operations Create a Different Kind of Opportunity

Many businesses operate beyond a traditional office or storefront. Construction companies move between jobsites. Agricultural businesses operate across large rural areas. Logistics companies need connectivity while assets are moving. Other organizations have remote equipment, temporary locations, or facilities outside traditional network footprints.

Satellite connectivity can potentially expand the range of locations where those customers can stay connected.

For sales professionals, understanding where and how a customer's business operates may become just as important as knowing what's available at its primary address.

Redundancy Can Be as Important as Speed

Connectivity conversations often begin with speed, but businesses may have another critical requirement: what happens when the primary connection goes down?

A fast connection doesn't help if a business cannot process transactions, access cloud applications, communicate with customers, or operate essential systems during an outage.

As satellite, wireless, and fiber become easier to combine, redundancy and failover can become increasingly important parts of the business connectivity conversation.

Authorized Dealers Should Think Beyond Individual Products

Telecom convergence continues expanding the number of ways a customer can connect.

For Authorized Dealers, the long-term opportunity is to understand enough about these technologies to identify the customer's actual problem. Instead of beginning with “Which product can I sell?” the better questions may be: Where do you need connectivity? How critical is that connection? What happens if it fails? Where does your current network stop working?

Those questions can uncover needs that a product-first conversation might miss.

 

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When a company's core business stops growing, the first responses are often predictable. Raise prices. Reduce expenses. Automate more processes. Look for operational efficiencies. Those strategies can protect margins and buy valuable time, but eventually they reach a limit.

A company cannot indefinitely cut its way into a stronger growth position. At some point, leadership has to answer a more difficult question: What comes next?

Changes underway in local television provide a useful case study. As audiences shift toward streaming and the economics of traditional broadcasting become more difficult, companies like The E.W. Scripps Company are restructuring operations, changing staffing models, and exploring greater use of automation and artificial intelligence.

Those changes raise questions that extend far beyond broadcasting. How should businesses use technology when an established model is under pressure? When does efficiency strengthen the company, and when does it begin weakening the product customers valued? And how can an organization use the relationships, expertise, and distribution it already has to build its next source of revenue?

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Why Cost Cutting Eventually Reaches a Limit

Reducing expenses can make a business more efficient, especially when costs have grown faster than customer value. But every organization eventually reaches a point where additional reductions begin affecting capabilities, service quality, or the customer experience.

Efficiency can improve the economics of an existing model. It cannot create unlimited demand for that model.

The Business Lesson Behind Changes in Local Television

Local television is adapting to fundamental shifts in how audiences consume news and entertainment. Streaming, changing advertising habits, automation, and AI are forcing broadcasters to reconsider workflows that were designed for a very different media environment.

The broader lesson is relevant to any established industry. When customer behavior changes, preserving yesterday's operating model more efficiently may not be enough. Businesses also need to determine what their capabilities could become valuable for next.

When Efficiency Starts Weakening the Product

Not every expense is waste. Experienced employees, local knowledge, responsiveness, customer relationships, and operational flexibility can all look expensive when viewed strictly through a cost spreadsheet.

Cut too deeply and the business may become more efficient while simultaneously becoming less useful to its customers. The key is understanding which capabilities create genuine customer value before deciding what to eliminate.

AI Should Create Capacity, Not Just Reduce Headcount

Artificial intelligence can automate repetitive work, accelerate research, improve workflows, and reduce the time employees spend on low-value tasks. That creates an important strategic choice.

Businesses can use that capacity simply to reduce costs, or they can redirect it toward customer relationships, innovation, sales, and new sources of revenue. The second approach treats AI as a growth tool rather than only an efficiency tool.

Pivot Toward Problems You Already Understand

A successful pivot doesn't always mean abandoning the existing business and entering an unrelated industry. Often, the strongest opportunities are adjacent to what the company already does well.

Look at the assets already in place: customers, relationships, salespeople, knowledge, brand recognition, and distribution. Then ask what additional problem those same resources could help solve.

What Telecom Convergence Can Teach Other Industries

Telecom companies increasingly sell multiple forms of connectivity to the same customer. Wireless providers expand into home internet. Broadband companies add wireless. Providers look for ways to deepen an existing relationship instead of constantly starting from zero.

That principle can apply elsewhere. A company with trusted customer relationships may be able to offer adjacent services that solve additional problems for the same audience.

Could Local Media Sell More Than Advertising?

Local television sales organizations already speak with thousands of businesses about marketing, customer acquisition, and growth.

Those relationships could potentially support conversations about other business needs, such as internet connectivity, phone systems, or related technology services. The opportunity is not necessarily to become a completely different company. It is to ask what other problems an existing customer relationship puts you in a position to solve.

The Steve Ballmer and iPhone Lesson

When Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, Microsoft already had an established position in mobile software. From the perspective of the existing market, Microsoft's position appeared logical and defensible.

Apple was approaching the problem differently. Instead of optimizing around the mobile market that already existed, it helped redefine what consumers expected from a phone.

The lesson isn't simply about one company winning and another losing. It's about the danger of evaluating the future entirely through the economics and assumptions of the present.

Build the Next Revenue Stream While You Still Can

The best time to experiment with a new business model is often while the existing one is still generating cash.

That gives companies room to test ideas, train employees, learn from customers, and make mistakes without betting the entire organization on an immediate transformation. Waiting until the original revenue stream is collapsing removes many of those advantages.

 

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For years, the telecommunications industry had relatively clear categories. Cable companies sold cable internet. Wireless companies sold mobile service. Fiber providers built fiber networks. Those distinctions haven't disappeared, but they're becoming increasingly difficult to use as a map of the industry.

Cable companies are building wireless businesses. Wireless providers increasingly want the home internet relationship. Fiber networks continue expanding into new communities. At the same time, the language companies use to describe those networks is becoming part of the competitive battle.

Three recent developments illustrate just how quickly those lines are shifting. AT&T has sued Charter Communications over Spectrum's use of “fiber-powered” to describe broadband delivered over its hybrid fiber-coaxial network. Optimum has expanded its relationship with T-Mobile as it grows its mobile business. And TDS Telecom has acquired Granite State Communications' fiber and voice operations as part of a much larger fiber growth strategy.

The stories are different, but together they point toward the same trend: telecom companies aren't staying in their traditional lanes anymore.

For Authorized Dealers, that's important. As providers expand into adjacent services, understanding how different connectivity products work and recognizing opportunities across multiple categories becomes increasingly valuable.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

Why AT&T and Charter Are Fighting Over “Fiber-Powered”

AT&T filed a federal lawsuit against Charter Communications and Spectrum Management Holding Company over Spectrum's use of the term “fiber-powered” in its broadband marketing.

The dispute raises a larger question about how internet services are described to consumers. Fiber may play a role within a provider's network, but that doesn't necessarily mean fiber is the technology making the final connection into the customer's home.

For dealers, understanding that distinction can help when customers encounter increasingly similar terminology across very different broadband technologies.

Fiber Internet and Cable Internet Aren't the Same Thing

A hybrid fiber-coaxial network uses fiber within portions of the network and coaxial cable for other portions, including typically the final connection to the customer. Fiber-to-the-premises extends fiber directly to the home or business.

Customers may not know or care about all of the technical terminology behind those architectures. But sales professionals should understand the basic differences well enough to explain them accurately and without unnecessary jargon.

Optimum Is Expanding Deeper Into Wireless

Optimum's expanded relationship with T-Mobile provides another example of traditional industry boundaries changing. The company announced access to T-Mobile's 5G Standalone network as it continues growing a mobile business that has already surpassed 700,000 lines.

For a company historically associated with cable and broadband, mobile service creates an opportunity to build a broader connectivity relationship with customers.

Convergence Works in Both Directions

We've already seen wireless providers expand deeper into home internet through fiber and fixed wireless. Cable companies are approaching convergence from the other direction by adding mobile service to existing broadband relationships.

The starting points are different, but the strategy is similar: provide more pieces of a customer's overall connectivity needs.

That means the competitive landscape is increasingly about the complete customer relationship rather than a single product.

TDS Telecom Continues Expanding Its Fiber Footprint

TDS Telecom's acquisition of Granite State Communications' fiber and voice operations adds more than 11,000 fiber service addresses adjacent to its existing New Hampshire footprint.

The acquisition fits within a broader fiber expansion strategy. TDS has continued adding marketable fiber addresses while working toward a long-term objective of approximately 2.1 million fiber service addresses.

The result is another example of how the broadband map continues changing as fiber reaches additional communities.

Network Construction Is Only Part of the Competition

Building a network creates availability, but it doesn't automatically create customers. Once service becomes available, providers still need to compete for the household or business relationship.

That's why sales, marketing, distribution, and customer education become increasingly important as networks expand.

The next phase of telecom competition isn't simply about who can reach an address. It's about who can convince the customer to choose their service once they get there.

Product Knowledge Is Becoming More Important for Dealers

As connectivity products overlap, sales teams need to understand more than the names on a rate card.

Can your team explain the difference between fiber internet, cable broadband, and fixed wireless in 30 seconds? Can they explain which options are available at a customer's address and why one may make sense over another?

Customers don't need a network engineering lesson. They need someone who can make an increasingly complicated market easier to understand.

One Customer Can Represent Multiple Opportunities

A customer walking into a store for wireless service may also need home internet. A broadband customer may have mobile lines elsewhere. A small business may need internet, wireless, voice, security, or other connectivity solutions.

When providers themselves are expanding across categories, dealers have a reason to think the same way. Instead of viewing each product as an isolated transaction, look at the customer's broader connectivity needs.

Don't Stay in a Lane the Industry Has Already Left

Telecom categories still matter, but they're no longer reliable boundaries for where companies will compete.

For Authorized Dealers, that creates an opportunity to develop broader expertise. The better your team understands wireless, fiber, broadband, and other connectivity solutions, the easier it becomes to recognize needs that extend beyond the customer's original reason for starting the conversation.

 

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Welcome to The Dealer Download, powered by RS&I.

For years, one of the biggest stories in broadband has been infrastructure. Carriers have invested heavily in fiber construction, fixed wireless, and other technologies designed to bring faster internet to more homes and businesses. The questions were largely about coverage: Who could build the network? How quickly could they expand? How many locations could they reach?

Those questions still matter, but another one is becoming increasingly important: Who wins the customer?

AT&T and Brightspeed provide two interesting examples. AT&T Internet Air has reached 2 million subscribers, with its second million added in roughly half the time it took to reach its first. Meanwhile, Brightspeed continues bringing fiber to hundreds of thousands of additional homes and businesses across states including Ohio, North Carolina, Texas, and South Carolina.

The technologies and strategies are different, but the business challenge eventually becomes the same. Once internet service is available, someone still has to help customers discover it, understand it, and choose it. For Authorized Dealers, that makes internet increasingly relevant to everyday customer conversations.

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What You’ll Learn in This Episode

AT&T Internet Air Has Reached 2 Million Subscribers

AT&T announced in July that Internet Air had surpassed 2 million subscribers. Reaching the first million took roughly two years, while the second million was added in approximately one year.

That acceleration demonstrates how fixed wireless is becoming a meaningful part of AT&T's broader home internet strategy. Fiber remains important, but it isn't the only way AT&T can extend its connectivity relationship into the home.

Convergence Isn't Limited to Fiber

One of the most interesting numbers behind Internet Air's growth is that 1 million subscribers also have AT&T wireless service.

That provides a clear example of convergence extending beyond fiber. A customer's wireless relationship can create an opportunity to discuss home internet, giving dealers another reason to think about the entire household connectivity relationship rather than treating wireless and internet as completely separate conversations.

The Retail Experience Is Becoming Simpler

Customers can now order AT&T Internet Air in an AT&T store and leave with the equipment rather than waiting for a traditional installation process.

For retail environments, simplicity matters. The easier it becomes to move from a customer conversation to an activated service, the easier it becomes to incorporate home internet into the normal sales process.

Brightspeed Is Expanding Fiber Across Multiple Markets

Brightspeed is approaching the opportunity from a different direction. Instead of extending an existing national wireless relationship into home internet, the company continues building fiber deeper into communities throughout its footprint.

More than 350,000 homes and businesses in Ohio can now access Brightspeed Fiber, while its North Carolina network has reached more than 736,000 locations. Additional construction continues in markets including Texas and South Carolina.

Every new fiber-enabled location expands the number of potential customers dealers may be able to reach.

A Fiber Passing Isn't the Finish Line

Completing construction doesn't automatically create a customer. Once fiber reaches a neighborhood, customers still need to know that service has become available and understand whether switching makes sense for them.

That's why customer acquisition becomes increasingly important as networks mature. The infrastructure creates an addressable market. Sales and marketing help convert that availability into actual subscribers.

AT&T and Brightspeed Are Starting From Different Places

AT&T already has a massive wireless customer base, creating opportunities to expand existing relationships into home internet through fiber or Internet Air where available.

Brightspeed is approaching the market differently, building fiber into communities across its 20-state footprint and then working to turn newly available locations into customers.

Different networks. Different starting points. But both ultimately compete for the same thing: the household internet relationship.

Why Dealers Can Add Value to the Internet Conversation

Customers generally aren't thinking about network strategy, carrier investment, or telecommunications architecture. They want practical answers.

Is service available at my address? Is it fast enough for what I do? Is it reliable? What are my options? And who can help me get connected?

An Authorized Dealer who understands the available products can help simplify those questions and guide customers toward an appropriate solution.

Don't Let the Conversation End at the First “No”

Internet availability can vary significantly by address. Fiber may be available at one location but not another. Another technology or provider may serve a location where the first option doesn't.

That makes product knowledge particularly valuable. Rather than treating a failed availability check as the end of the conversation, dealers should understand the other internet opportunities available through their portfolio.

Start With One Simple Question

Dealers don't necessarily need a complicated new sales process to uncover internet opportunities.

Start by asking:

“Who's doing your internet at home?”

From there, check the customer's address, understand what's available, ask about their current experience, and determine whether another option makes sense. A simple question can reveal an entirely new customer need.