AT&T has announced it will acquire Lumen's mass market fiber business for $5.75 billion.

In doing so, the carrier says it will expand investment in critical US connectivity infrastructure, create new middle-class jobs, and accelerate high-speed fiber Internet access to millions across the country.

The all-cash transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

The announcement this week isn't a big surprise, given reports that emerged that the two were in talks to carve out a deal back in March.

AT&T noted that it will acquire 95 percent of Lumen's fiber business, which covers around 1 million customers and reaches more than 4 million fiber locations across 11 states.

“We’re leading the race to connect more Americans with fiber, the best broadband connectivity technology available,” said John Stankey, chairman and CEO, AT&T.

“This deal with Lumen represents a significant investment in US connectivity infrastructure that will create jobs and spur economic activity in numerous regions and major metro areas across 11 states. As we advance our fiber build, we’ll serve more communities with world-class connectivity and expect to roughly double where AT&T Fiber is available by the end of 2030.”

AT&T has previously outlined its fiber ambitions. In December, Stankey said the company plans to reach more than 50 million fiber locations by 2029.

Following the announcement of this deal, AT&T has upped that target to approximately 60 million total fiber locations by the end of 2030.

“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,” added Kate Johnson, president and CEO of Lumen.

“As part of this deal, we are retaining the core infrastructure that allows us to continue innovating for enterprise customers, leapfrogging traditional networking architectures to give customers the bandwidth, performance, and security they need."

Fiber push continues

AT&T recently struck four new agreements with commercial open-access providers to boost its fiber build. Those partners are Boldyn Networks, wholesale fiber developer and operator, Digital Infrastructure Group, PRIME FiBER, and Ubiquity.

The carrier is also adding fiber customers via its Gigapower fiber JV with investment company BlackRock.

In October, AT&T signed a multi-year purchase agreement worth more than $1 billion with Corning Incorporated.

At present, the carrier has around 9 million fiber customers and has passed close to 30 million fiber premises, meaning it's around halfway to its 2030 target.

The carrier isn't the only one pushing hard on fiber, with rivals Verizon and T-Mobile also carving out several deals in this space.

Earlier this week, the Federal Communications Commission approved Verizon's $20 billion acquisition of fiber provider Frontier Communications. Frontier shareholders, despite many publicly rejecting the bid, agreed to approve the deal.

T-Mobile has also pushed the boat out on fiber, first through the acquisition of Lumos Networks as part of a joint venture (JV) with EQT Infrastructure in April of last year. Then, in July, the company agreed to set up a JV with investment firm KKR to acquire fiber Internet service provider Metronet.

For further analysis, read our sister publication SDxCentral's coverage of this news.