Lumen Technologies (LUMN) J.P. Morgan 54th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference summary

Strategic priorities and recent transactions

• Focus remains on inflecting EBITDA in 2024, with revenue growth expected in the following years.

• Sale of the fiber-to-the-home business to AT&T was strategic, allowing concentration on core strengths.

• Acquisition of Alkira aims to unlock programmable enterprise networking and accelerate innovation.

• Integration of Alkira is expected to be light, with most technology already built and focus on sales integration.

• CapEx savings from Alkira acquisition estimated at $150–$200 million over the next few years.

Market opportunity and competitive positioning

• East-west data movement TAM grows from $11 billion to $58 billion post-Alkira, with 20% annual growth.

• No pure play competitor matches the combined physical network and software capabilities.

• $13 billion in PCF deals signed, with ongoing high demand and speed-to-market incentives.

• New high-density routes, such as Minneapolis to Seattle, are being developed for monetization.

• Strategic Waves (100 Gb+) and RapidRoutes (400 Gb) are driving customer adoption and revenue.

Product and technology evolution

• Multi-Cloud Gateway and Alkira integration enable seamless, programmable data movement across clouds and DCs.

• NaaS adoption is expanding, with over 60% of customers choosing to expand rather than migrate.

• NaaS ports enable digital delivery of future services, reducing reliance on legacy infrastructure.

• AI and latency-sensitive applications are driving demand for low-latency, high-capacity connectivity.

• Alkira's programmable network can dynamically reroute workloads based on energy and GPU availability.