Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN): Business Model Canvas [Dec-2025 Updated]

You're looking at Lumen Technologies, Inc. right now, and I get it-it feels like trying to map a moving target as they pivot hard away from legacy telecom and into AI infrastructure. After two decades analyzing these shifts, what matters is this: they are betting their future on high-speed, low-latency connectivity for the hyperscalers, aiming for an Adjusted EBITDA near the high end of $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion in 2025, while simultaneously cutting costs through a massive modernization effort. It's a high-stakes simplification, and while the consumer business sale to AT&T is pending, the core enterprise play is now all about Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) and those big Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deals. To see exactly how they plan to pull this off, check out the nine core components of their new business model below; it's defintely worth the deep dive.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Key Partnerships

You're looking at the core alliances Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) is forging to pivot hard into the enterprise and AI networking space. These aren't just vendor relationships; they are strategic divestitures and deep integrations that are reshaping the balance sheet and the service portfolio.

The most significant financial move involves the consumer side. Lumen agreed to sell its Mass Markets fiber-to-the-home business, which includes Quantum Fiber, to AT&T for a total consideration of $5.75 billion in cash. This transaction, expected to close in the first half of 2026, covers substantially all of the consumer fiber assets, which as of the first quarter of 2025, included nearly 1 million fiber subscribers and reached more than 4 million fiber passings across 11 U.S. states. Lumen retains the critical infrastructure-the national, regional, state, and metro level fiber backbone-essential for its enterprise focus. The expected financial impact is material: Lumen intends to use the net proceeds of approximately $4.2 billion plus cash on hand to pay down about $4.8 billion in superpriority debt, which is projected to slash annual interest expense by approximately $300 million. Based on projected 2025 aEBITDA guidance, this sale reduces Lumen's net debt to aEBITDA ratio from 4.9x to 3.9x.

The enterprise focus is heavily supported by hyperscaler relationships, which are driving significant revenue. Lumen has inked $8.5 billion in AI-driven networking contracts with hyperscalers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud, and Microsoft over the last year. To support this, Lumen continues to expand its Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deals, signing an additional $1B in PCF Deals during the third quarter of 2025 alone.

The infrastructure supporting these AI workloads is being built out through key data center partnerships. Lumen expanded its strategic partnership with QTS Data Centers to connect its AI-ready infrastructure to 16 new QTS data center campuses across the U.S., including locations in Arizona, Georgia, Ohio, Texas, Virginia, and Oregon. This collaboration effectively brings QTS's AI-optimized data center footprint on-net to Lumen's massive 340,000-route-mile global fiber backbone. QTS has selected Lumen for four strategic roles, which include being the Premier Fiber Provider and deploying a wavelength backbone interconnecting all QTS locations for site management and fail over redundancy.

Lumen is also streamlining its internal IT to better support its external strategy. Lumen selected Amdocs to support its cloud transformation by migrating mission-critical Business Support Systems (BSS) applications from on-premises infrastructure to Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Amdocs will lead this transition of core BSS systems to GCP to simplify operations and accelerate innovation.

To enhance its enterprise service offerings, Lumen has established several specialized technology alliances:

• Commvault: Partnership to advance enterprise cyber resilience and data protection.
• Meter: Teamed up to deliver a WAN-to-LAN solution through an AI-driven, click-to-buy digital experience for enterprises.

Here's a quick look at the scale of the consumer divestiture versus the enterprise focus:

The AT&T deal is expected to reduce Lumen's Mass Markets fiber-related capital expenditures by approximately $1 billion annually, freeing up cash flow to accelerate investments in enterprise offerings.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Key Activities

You're looking at the core actions Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) is taking right now to reshape its business, focusing heavily on the AI economy and digital services. Here's the breakdown of what they are actively doing, grounded in their late 2025 operational and financial metrics.

Building and expanding the intercity and metro fiber backbone for AI workloads

Lumen Technologies, Inc. is executing a multi-billion-dollar build to create the network foundation for Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads. The primary long-term goal is to expand the U.S. intercity fiber backbone to a total of 47 million miles (or 75.6 million km) by the end of 2028. As of late 2025, they have already added more than 2.2 million new intercity fiber miles (or 3.5 million km) during 2025 alone. The company projects reaching 16.6 million total intercity fiber miles by the end of 2025. This expansion includes significant capacity upgrades; network improvements so far this year have added over 5.9 petabits per second (Pbps) of total capacity to the network. Furthermore, they have earmarked more than $100 million to bring high-speed connectivity up to 400 Gigabits per second (Gbps) across key cloud, metro, and data center locations. The Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF), optimized for AI, boasts 25% lower optical loss than rival networks and 60% more capacity than standard designs. The existing backbone now covers over 100,000 route miles, achieving latency under five milliseconds at the edge, which serves up to 97% of U.S. business demand.

Developing the digital platform (Lumen Connected Ecosystem) for NaaS

A key activity is the transformation of the network into a consumption-based digital platform, often referred to as 'cloudifying telecom.' This involves digitizing the entire service lifecycle to allow customers to provision and manage services within minutes. The development roadmap for late 2025 and early 2026 includes the rollout of specific platform innovations.

• Lumen Fabric Port deployment targeted for Q4 2025.
• Lumen Multi-Cloud Gateway targeted for Q4 2025.
• Lumen Connect targeted for Q1 2026.

These technologies are designed to enable real-time adjustment of network capacity.

Executing the modernization and simplification initiative to cut costs

Lumen Technologies, Inc. is aggressively pursuing operational excellence through modernization and simplification efforts. The company increased its targeted run-rate cost reduction to $350 million by the end of the 2025 exit, up from the initial $250 million target. The longer-term goal is to eliminate $1 billion in operating expenses by the end of 2027. A major component of this is unifying the network architectures from 4 to one, using AI for automation. This focus is intended to improve the cost structure and is a primary driver behind the expectation for an Adjusted EBITDA inflection in 2026.

Selling and provisioning Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) and security products

The sales activity is heavily weighted toward high-growth enterprise services. The Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deals signed to date have reached $10 billion as of the Q3 2025 earnings call, with an additional $3 billion noted in the pipeline. The Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform has shown significant adoption traction, surpassing 1,500 customers by Q3 2025. Comparing Q2 2025 to Q1 2025, customer adoption for NaaS grew 35% quarter-over-quarter, and total active NaaS ports increased by 31%. This platform is reportedly achieving 80.4% direct margins, contrasting with the 67-75% margins seen in legacy services. The North American Business Grow revenue segment showed a year-over-year increase of 7.9% in Q1 2025. Security provisioning includes features like DDoS Essentials and Lumen Defender.

Here are some key operational metrics for the growth segments:

Managing and maintaining the global fiber optic network and edge cloud assets

The management activity centers on maintaining the vast physical network while executing strategic divestitures to sharpen focus. Lumen Technologies, Inc. maintains the most peered network globally. The physical footprint includes approximately 340,000 global fiber route miles and access to 163,000 on-net buildings globally. To fund enterprise investment, the company announced an agreement to sell its consumer fiber business, including approximately 95% of Quantum Fiber, to AT&T for a pre-tax total of $5.75 billion in cash. Financially, Q2 2025 Total Revenue was reported at $3.092 billion, with an Adjusted EBITDA of $929 million and a margin of 29.2%. Debt management is also a key activity; a March 2025 refinancing of $2.4 billion in term loans reduced annual interest expense by approximately $55 million. Following the AT&T transaction, the expected reduction in annual interest expense is $700 million.

Financial snapshot for Q2 2025:

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Key Resources

You're looking at the core assets Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) relies on to execute its strategy, especially the pivot toward AI-driven network infrastructure. These aren't just assets; they are the foundation supporting those big Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deals.

The physical backbone remains a primary resource. Lumen Technologies, Inc. is actively expanding its U.S. network, aiming to more than double its size to serve AI workloads. This involves a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar build.

Here are the hard numbers reflecting the scale and recent investment in that infrastructure as of late 2025:

Financially, liquidity provides operational flexibility. As of September 30, 2025, Lumen Technologies, Inc. reported cash and cash equivalents of $2.401 billion.

The forward-looking contract pipeline represents significant future value tied to this network. The total Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deal value secured stands at over $10 billion. This includes an additional $1 billion in new PCF deals signed since the previous update.

Beyond the physical assets, the intellectual and digital resources are key differentiators for Lumen Technologies, Inc. in the enterprise space:

• Black Lotus Labs threat intelligence for proactive cloud security.
• Digital platform and self-service portal, known as Lumen Connect, which supports scaling Network as a Service (NaaS) adoption.

The digital platform is seeing traction; active NaaS customers increased by 32% Quarter-over-Quarter (QoQ) in Q3 2025, with fabric ports up 30% and services sold up 36% in the same period.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Value Propositions

You're looking at the core value Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) delivers to its enterprise and public sector customers as of late 2025, which is centered on powering the AI economy.

High-speed, low-latency connectivity for demanding AI and cloud workloads

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) is building the backbone for the AI economy by expanding its physical network to handle massive data processing demands.

The company has allocated more than $100 million in 2025 to bring high-speed connectivity up to 400Gbps across clouds, data centers, and metropolitan areas. The Lumen 400G-enabled network now spans more than 100,000 route miles. This infrastructure is designed with fiber that exhibits 25% less optical loss than competitors' fiber. The network achieves latency less than five milliseconds at the edge, covering up to 97% of U.S. business demand. The overall goal is to add 34 million new intercity fiber miles by the end of 2028, resulting in a total of 47 million intercity fiber miles. So far in 2025, Lumen has already deployed over 2.2 million new intercity fiber miles, with a projection to reach 16.6 million total by year-end 2025.

Consumption-based Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) for on-demand agility

The shift to a digital platform is showing tangible customer adoption metrics, moving away from legacy services. The company is scaling its Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform and Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF).

Here's a look at the growth in the digital segment as of the third quarter of 2025:

The Internet On-Demand (IoD) service is expanding its reach to over 10 million off-net locations.

Secure, resilient network solutions integrated with cloud platforms (e.g., Microsoft Sentinel)

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) is embedding security and resilience directly into its network offerings, often through key partnerships. The company has announced expanded cloud protection for AWS customers. Furthermore, it is offering a managed threat detection service in partnership with Microsoft. These integrations help enterprises secure their data as it moves across the network and into multi-cloud environments.

Simplifying telecom complexity through a digital, composable platform

The value proposition here is stripping away the complexity of legacy networking by turning the fiber footprint into a programmable digital platform. This is supported by operational execution milestones. The company successfully implemented Phase I of its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) is targeting annualized cost savings of $350 million by the end of 2025 as part of its modernization program. The company plans to reduce its gross debt by over 35% to $13.2 billion following the anticipated close of its consumer fiber sale to AT&T in early 2026. This simplification is also expected to reduce annual interest expenses by nearly 50% to approximately $700 million by 2026.

Carrier-grade performance engineered for AI and multi-cloud environments

The network upgrades are specifically engineered to support the high-bandwidth, low-latency needs of AI workloads. The company has added 5.9+ Pbps of total capacity to its network so far in 2025. This buildout is supported by a healthy balance sheet position as of September 30, 2025, with cash and cash equivalents of $2.401 billion. The third quarter 2025 Adjusted EBITDA was $787 million, representing a margin of 25.5%. The company also delivered Free Cash Flow, excluding Special Items, of $1.661 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Relationships

You're looking at how Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) interacts with its clients as they push hard into the AI and multi-cloud infrastructure space. The focus has clearly shifted from legacy service maintenance to enabling dynamic, on-demand digital experiences. Honestly, the numbers show a company betting big on a new way of doing business with its customers.

Digital, Self-Service Interactions via the Lumen Connect Portal

Lumen Technologies, Inc. is driving customers toward digital self-service, mirroring the ease of use found in pure cloud environments. This is evident in the rollout of new digital platforms designed for effortless management. For instance, they introduced the Lumen Connectivity Fabric in the first quarter of 2025, which is a set of network services that customers can manage remotely via the cloud. Also, in the second quarter of 2025, they launched the Lumen Connected Ecosystem, which lets customers purchase, provision, and manage their network services as easily as they handle their cloud solutions, like NaaS. Furthermore, the expansion of Internet On-Demand service made high-performance connectivity available within minutes to over 10 million new business locations as of late October 2025, which is the essence of digital, self-service interaction.

Dedicated Account Management for Large Enterprise and Hyperscaler Contracts

For the biggest accounts, the relationship is far from purely digital; it requires dedicated, high-touch engagement, especially given the scale of the infrastructure deals. Lumen Technologies, Inc. has secured over $10 billion in Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deals with major hyperscalers like Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon. These specific PCF agreements often involve providing hyperscalers with exclusive custom network infrastructure for their data center needs over a long period, sometimes up to 20 years. To support this, Lumen is on track to have 90% of hyperscaler on-ramp coverage by the end of 2025. While the Large Enterprise segment revenue was $752 million in the third quarter of 2025, down 1.2% year-over-year, the strategic focus remains on these high-value, long-duration relationships.

Here's a quick look at the Large Enterprise segment revenue trend:

Consumption-Based Model for NaaS, Moving Away from Long-Term Contracts

The Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offering is the clearest example of moving to a consumption-based model, which is fundamentally different from traditional, long-term telecom contracts. This model allows customers to pay only for what they use, which is exactly what enterprises are asking for. The adoption curve is steep; Lumen's NaaS platform surpassed 1,500 customers by the third quarter of 2025, up from over 500 customers driving sales growth in Q1 2025. The number of customers purchasing one or more NaaS ports increased by 35% quarter-over-quarter, and the number of deployed ports for multi-cloud networking rose 31%. This shift is financially significant, as the NaaS platform achieves 80.4% direct margins, substantially higher than the 67-75% seen in legacy services. This pay-as-you-go approach is what's fueling the company's margin expansion story.

Partner-Led Co-Selling Model Through the Connected Ecosystem

Lumen Technologies, Inc. is actively building out its connected ecosystem to drive sales through partners, which is a key part of their go-to-market strategy. The channel is a meaningful source of new business, as a number of the 1,000+ NaaS customers were brought in through partners. This co-selling effort is integrated into their broader strategy to simplify service delivery and expand reach across various customer types, including midmarket, hyperscalers, and strategic Internet Service Providers (ISPs). The company's focus on the Lumen Connected Ecosystem, introduced in Q2 2025, is designed to formalize and enhance these partner relationships.

Key indicators of the digital/self-service and customer focus include:

• Customer satisfaction scores in all four enterprise segments improved YOY for four quarters in a row (as of early 2025 reports).
• Sales growth in North American Enterprise channels was over 15% YOY, with IP and Waves growing over 13% in 2024.
• New Ethernet and IP data service sales in major metro markets were enabled on a unified network architecture for 85% of new deals, reducing implementation costs by as much as 50% in some use cases.

Customer Obsession, Which They Defintely Prioritize

You can see the commitment to customer obsession woven into the executive messaging and operational metrics. Lumen President and CEO Kate Johnson has stated that customer obsession is core to who they are and is centered in everything they do. This isn't just talk; they are working to get each and every vice president at Lumen engaging directly with customers to hear more, understand more, and do better. This focus is also tied to their infrastructure upgrades, where they are driving the strongest utilization of their network assets in company history while creating substantial capacity for growth. For example, their total inter-city network capacity is planned to grow from 12 million fiber miles in 2022 to 47 million fiber miles by 2028. Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Channels

You're looking at how Lumen Technologies, Inc. gets its services-from the massive data center deals to the smaller, self-serve activations-into the hands of its customers as of late 2025. It's a mix of old-school direct selling and new digital storefronts, which is defintely where the focus is shifting.

Direct sales force targeting large and midmarket enterprises

The direct sales force is still crucial, especially for landing those massive Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) agreements that are key to the AI strategy. These teams target the Large Enterprise and Midmarket segments directly. For example, in the third quarter of 2025, the Large Enterprise segment brought in $752 million in revenue, while the Midmarket segment contributed $488 million for that same period. The North American Enterprise Channels overall generated $1,718 million in revenue in the second quarter of 2025. The focus here is clearly on the 'Grow' offerings; North American Enterprise Grow revenue was up 10.5% year-over-year in Q3 2025. The big wins are the PCF deals, with over $10 billion in contracts signed to date, which Lumen expects will yield a recurring revenue stream between $400 million and $500 million by the time the company exits 2028.

Digital self-service portal (Lumen Connect) for frictionless activation

The push for digital self-service is centered around the Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) platform, which is designed for instant activation and control. This is where the future of frictionless ordering lives. As of August 2025, Lumen announced it had surpassed 1,000 customers on its NaaS platform, and by the third quarter earnings call, that number had grown to more than 1,500 enterprise customers since the platform's launch. The adoption metrics show strong momentum; in the second quarter of 2025, the number of customers purchasing one or more NaaS ports was up 35% quarter-over-quarter, and total active NaaS ports were up 31% over the same period. This digital focus is a deliberate move to 'cloudify' telecom services.

Cloud marketplaces (AWS Marketplace) for security and network services

Lumen Technologies is embedding its services directly where the hyperscalers operate, turning visibility into a channel itself. This is about making security and connectivity instantly available within the customer's existing cloud environment. The company recently launched Lumen Defender Managed Rules for AWS Network Firewall, making its Black Lotus Labs threat intelligence available as a subscription service inside AWS Marketplace. A similar managed detection and response offering was launched for Microsoft customers. These marketplace plays build on the foundation of the massive Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deals signed with hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google, which totaled $8.5 billion as of the end of 2024.

Partner ecosystem for extended reach and joint solutions

The partner ecosystem is designed to extend the reach of the digital platform, allowing solution providers to attach Lumen capabilities to their own offerings. Channel professionals are seeing the value in these automated platforms, and a number of Lumen's NaaS customers have come in through this channel. The company is actively building out this reach, reporting in late 2025 that it is rapidly building a connected ecosystem with dozens of early adopter tech partners to accelerate time to value with joint customers.

Wholesale channel for carrier-to-carrier connectivity services

The wholesale channel remains a significant, albeit shrinking, part of the revenue mix, serving carrier-to-carrier needs. In the third quarter of 2025, Wholesale revenue declined approximately 7.6% year-over-year. To give you a sense of scale, in the fourth quarter of 2024, Wholesale revenue was $716 million, which represented a 5% slump compared to the year-ago quarter. For the full year 2024, Wholesale revenue declined 9% overall.

Here's a quick look at how the key enterprise and wholesale segments stacked up in Q3 2025:

The digital channel's growth is clear from the NaaS metrics reported in Q2 2025:

• Total active NaaS ports growth (Q2 vs Q1 2025): 31%
• Customers purchasing one or more NaaS ports growth (Q2 vs Q1 2025): 35%
• Total active NaaS services growth (Q2 vs Q1 2025): 22%

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Customer Segments

You're looking at the customer base Lumen Technologies, Inc. is focusing on as it completes its enterprise pivot, especially with the planned sale of its consumer arm.

Hyperscalers (e.g., Microsoft, Google, Amazon) for PCF infrastructure

This group is central to Lumen Technologies, Inc.'s future growth narrative, tied directly to AI infrastructure build-out.

• Lumen Technologies, Inc. secured $8.5 billion in AI-driven networking contracts with hyperscalers in the year leading up to May 2025.
• Total Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) deal value reached $10 billion+ as of October 2025.
• The plan was to grow network utilization generated by hyperscalers from 30% in 2022 to 45%.

Large Enterprise customers requiring secure, high-bandwidth WAN/cloud services

This segment is a core focus, with growth coming from the 'Grow' portfolio, even as legacy services decline.

North American enterprise channels revenue, excluding wholesale, international, and other, declined by approximately 1% in the third quarter of 2025. However, North American enterprise grow revenue increased 10.5% year-over-year in Q3 2025.

Here's a look at the reported revenue for the first quarter of 2025 for the enterprise components:

Midmarket Enterprise seeking simplified, on-demand network solutions (NaaS)

The Network as a Service (NaaS) offering is a key part of the strategy here, aiming for simplicity and on-demand deployment.

• The number of active NaaS customers grew by 32% from the previous quarter in Q3 2025.
• Total active NaaS ports increased by 31% in the same period.
• The Mid-Market Enterprise segment revenue was $513 million in Q1 2025.

Government agencies and public sector entities

This segment shows strong growth in its 'Grow' offerings, though overall revenue can be lumpy.

Public Sector revenue was $483 million in the first quarter of 2025. The Public Sector grow revenue saw an increase of 10.1% in Q1 2025. Still, anticipated declines in Public Sector harvest revenue impacted Adjusted EBITDA margins in Q3 2025.

Mass Market/Consumer (divestiture to AT&T expected early 2026)

This segment is being sold off, but its recent metrics show the scale of the divested asset.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. agreed to sell this business to AT&T for $5.75 billion in cash. The transaction is targeted to close in the first half of 2026.

Key metrics for the Mass Markets segment as of Q3 2025:

• Mass Market segment revenue declined 7.7% year-over-year to $631 million.
• Quantum Fiber subscribers reached approximately 1.2 million as of September 30, 2025.
• Quantum Fiber penetration stood at approximately 26% at the end of Q1 2025.
• The divested business was expected to contribute more than $750 million in annualized revenues based on first-quarter 2025 figures.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. retains its existing copper network servicing consumers.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Cost Structure

You're looking at the core expenditures Lumen Technologies, Inc. faces to run and transform its massive network infrastructure. Honestly, for a company with a global fiber footprint, the cost structure is dominated by things you can't easily turn off.

High Fixed Costs from Maintaining the Global Fiber Network and Infrastructure

The sheer scale of the network dictates high fixed costs. Lumen Technologies, Inc. operates a fiber optic network encompassing a total distance of 450,000 route miles. This infrastructure requires continuous investment, especially as the company pushes to expand its backbone for the AI economy. Lumen is advancing a multi-year project aiming to add 34 million new intercity fiber miles by the end of 2028, targeting a total of 47 million intercity fiber miles. For 2025 alone, the company added over 2.2 million new intercity fiber miles, projecting a total of 16.6 million by year-end 2025. This build involves constructing signal boosters at 176 In-Line Amplifier (ILA) sites and completing indefeasible right-of-use conduit deployments on 55 additional routes.

Significant Debt Servicing Costs

Servicing the debt load is a major ongoing expense, though recent actions are providing relief. Lumen Technologies, Inc. plans to cut annual interest expenses by nearly 50% by 2026. Following the planned sale of its mass-market fiber business to AT&T, annualized interest expense is projected to be about $700 million. Recent refinancing efforts have already yielded savings; one transaction reduced annual interest expenses by $24 million, and another refinancing reduced annual interest expense by an additional $10 million. Separately, another debt refinancing reduced interest costs by approximately $50 million annually. For the 2025 fiscal year, cash interest payments were estimated at a net $1.2-$1.3 billion.

Capital Expenditures and Operating Expense Targets

The investment required for modernization and network expansion is substantial, balanced by targeted cost reductions. You can see the key 2025 figures here:

The company's Q4 2024 capital expenditure was $915 million.

Managing Declining Legacy Services

The cost structure must also absorb the impact of managing legacy services that are shrinking. Lumen Technologies, Inc.'s Q4 2024 total revenue was $3.329 billion, representing a 5.3% decline year-over-year. The Business segment revenue saw a 5.1% decline in Q4 2024, partly due to legacy product declines. The Mass Markets business contributed sales of $670 million in Q4 2024, down from $715 million a year prior. Overall, the company has experienced a 3-year revenue growth decline of 10.4%.

The company's operating margin was 3.21%, a significant drop from its historical median of 14.51%.

Finance: draft 13-week cash view by Friday.

Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) - Canvas Business Model: Revenue Streams

You're looking at the core ways Lumen Technologies, Inc. (LUMN) is generating cash right now as they push this massive transformation. The revenue streams are clearly split between the shrinking legacy business and the growing, high-value digital services.

For the most recent snapshot, Q3 2025 Total Revenue came in at $3.087 billion, which actually beat the consensus estimates you were watching. That top-line number shows the ongoing pressure from legacy services, but the real story is where the growth is coming from.

Here's a quick look at how the business segments were shaping up based on recent filings and commentary:

The Enterprise services, which Lumen groups into the 'Grow' segment-think Network-as-a-Service (NaaS), security, and cloud offerings-are becoming the dominant part of the enterprise mix. Honestly, this is where the future value is being built. As of Q3 2025, these services now account for 50% of North American enterprise revenue. That's a big jump from about 35.5% just three years ago.

The Recurring revenue from Private Connectivity Fabric (PCF) contracts is a massive future anchor, primarily with hyperscalers. You know these are those long-term, custom network deals for AI infrastructure. The total value locked in is now over $10 billion, with an additional $1 billion signed in October alone. While the immediate revenue hit is still ramping up, management expects these existing PCF contracts to generate a recurring revenue stream ranging between $400 million and $500 million by the time they exit 2028.

Then you have the Legacy telecom services, which fall under the 'Harvest' segment. This is the part that's shrinking, including things like voice and copper-based services. For context, the Harvest segment represented about 16 percent of Lumen's Q1 2025 business revenues and was declining at a rate of 9.8 percent. The Q3 2025 Mass Markets revenue, which is heavily influenced by these legacy services, fell to $631 million, an 8% drop year-over-year.

Looking ahead, management is sticking to its full-year 2025 financial targets, which is a good sign of execution control. The Full-year 2025 Adjusted EBITDA guidance is expected near the high end of the range of $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion. Finance: draft the 13-week cash flow view incorporating the Q3 FCF of $1.661 billion by Friday.