These, along with an earlier deals including Microsoft, have pushed the operator’s share price up by more than 300% since July
If you wanted an exemplar of how AI and the associated boom in demand for capacity between datacentres is shaping telecoms, Lumen Technologies is a prime candidate. Its share price has risen by more than 300% since July, from $1.64 to $6.69, giving Lumen a market valuation of more than $6.7 billon.
Big deal with AWS
Lumens is a US, B2B infrastructure provider* that has just landed yet another huge deal, this time with AWS. The contract has many elements but no financial details were disclosed. Lumen will move its IT and product platforms to AWS “to drive performance, scalability, and operational efficiency.
In future, Lumen can apply generative AI technology, including Amazon Bedrock, to help better plan and optimize network resources. This will give Lumen full visibility of their network, both onsite and in the cloud, improving customer experience and reducing costs.”
In return, Lumen will “provide dedicated infrastructure with private fibre connections between AWS Regions and Local Zones. AWS will continue to deploy its custom network technologies on this fibre, enabling industry-leading security, availability, and performance between AWS locations.
“The enhanced AWS network will enable high-bandwidth and dynamic connections that provide customers with the ability to develop generative AI applications, train AI models, and deliver new AI-powered products across its Region and Local Zone footprint,” according to the press statement.
Reshaping industries – including telecoms
Kate Johnson, Lumen’s President and CEO (pictured), said, “AI is reshaping industries, and the network infrastructure supporting it needs to be just as dynamic and responsive. AWS wants their customers to thrive in the AI economy and this network expansion will help enable that. As the trusted network for AI, Lumen is using next-generation fibre to help AWS deliver high-bandwidth solutions that will allow their customers to experience and deliver AI’s full potential.”
Matt Garman, CEO of AWS, added: “The next wave of innovation will be driven by generative AI, which requires a combination of secure, scalable cloud infrastructure and flexible networking. Together, AWS and Lumen will enable high-performance network connections that ensure customers across every industry can build and deliver compelling, secure, and reliable AI applications at scale.”
Hard on Meta’s heels
Ten days ago, Lumen sealed a big network capacity deal with Meta. The operator’s CFO, Ashley Haynes-Gaspar, said of that deal. “We’re enabling one of the biggest expansions of network capacity in our lifetime.” Financial details were not made public.
He said the company had reinvented itself to meet the demand for capacity between datacentres, adding, “As Meta’s customers use more AI services across its platforms, we’re helping provide Meta with a seamless, effortless, and flexible network that will meet its growing needs.”
$5 billion business
In August, Lumen announced it had secured $5 billion in new business to help it address the exploding demand for connectivity fuelled by AI. It said it would more than double its intercity network miles over the next five years and provide access to installed dark fibre. It listed a contract with Microsoft, announced in July, as one of the deals that had helped it secure the funding.
Also in August, Lumen announced an agreement with Corning as its preferred partner for denser fibre cable to accommodate the increased data processing that AI requires.
* Lumen sold its European, Middle East and Africa business to Colt Technology Services for €1.65 billion almost a year ago and maintains a strategic partnership with Colt. They jointly own Lumen’s Tier 1 autonomous platform.