Establishing the control plane for cloud connectivity

AI is fundamentally changing what businesses expect from their networks. Moving massive amounts of data—quickly, securely and across environments—has gone from a technical challenge to a business-critical requirement.

That’s why today matters. Lumen announced an agreement to acquire Alkira, a cloud-native Network-as-a-Service platform, taking a significant step toward building a more programmable, flexible network designed for the demands of AI.

In this video, Lumen CEO Kate Johnson explains how this move will strengthen our ability to help customers simplify connectivity, operate at scale and move fast in an increasingly complex, AI-driven world.

Transcript

“Today marks another important milestone in Lumen’s transformation as we announce an agreement to acquire Alkira, a cloud‑native network‑as‑a‑service platform.

This is a defining move as Lumen—the Trusted Network for AI—builds out the control plane for global enterprise connectivity.

And it’s just in time.

Businesses are building the future with AI.

And AI systems, they don’t operate in a single place.

They require constant data movement between clouds, data centers and edge points.

The new kids in the corporate workforce—AI agents and bots—they’re proliferating rapidly, interacting continuously, and insatiably consuming and generating data.

So, to succeed, businesses will depend on the ability to move huge amounts of data from anywhere to anywhere, in real time, while delivering a great customer experience at a reasonable cost.

For networks to keep up, they’ve got to be big enough, fast enough, intelligent enough and secure enough.

And that’s where Lumen stands apart.

With the Alkira acquisition, we’re bringing together three core assets:

• A massive, world‑class physical network
• A now‑expanded cloud‑native NaaS platform that covers the myriad of connection possibilities
• And a connected ecosystem of clouds, applications and partners

Now, individually, each of these three assets really matters.

Together, they create something truly unique—a programmable connectivity fabric designed for the AI era.

For customers, this will simplify operations, improve performance and enable cloud‑like consumption of networking.

Most importantly, it lets them focus on their core businesses.

For Lumen—and for our shareholders—it materially accelerates our platform roadmap, expands our addressable market deeper into the cloud core and internationally, and it strengthens long‑term growth.

For decades, the network has been in the background, just like plumbing.

Today, the network is more like the AI nervous system.

It controls and coordinates data flow.

It determines how fast you can move, how much you spend and whether your AI investments produce value.

Together, Lumen and Alkira give businesses a control plane for global enterprise connectivity paired with the trusted network for AI, so they can move their data quickly, securely and effortlessly across any environment.

It’s what the market needs, and it’s what we’re building at Lumen.”

End Transcript

Read the full announcement to learn more about Lumen’s announcement to acquire Alkira.

Forward-Looking Statement

_{This content contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this post that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as “estimates,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “plans,” “intends,” “will,” and similar expressions, and include, but are not limited to, statements regarding: the benefits and potential effects of the proposed acquisition; the expected timing of the closing of the proposed acquisition; Lumen’s expectations regarding financing the proposed acquisition; the financial impact of the proposed acquisition, including its impact on margin; and Lumen’s capital allocation plans. These forward-looking statements are not promises nor guarantees of future results, are based on our current expectations only and are subject to various risks and uncertainties Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated by us in these statements due to several factors, including, among others, the occurrence of any event, change or circumstance that could give rise to Lumen or Alkira or both of them to terminate the transaction agreement; the failure to obtain applicable regulatory approvals or clearances in a timely manner; the risk that the proposed acquisition may not close in the anticipated timeframe or at all due to one or more of the other closing conditions to the proposed acquisition not being satisfied or waived; the risk that there may be unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the proposed acquisition; risks related to the ability of Lumen to successfully integrate Alkira’s business with Lumen’s existing business and achieve the expected benefits of the proposed acquisition within the expected timeframes or at all and the possibility that such integration may be more difficult, time consuming or costly than expected; risks that the proposed transaction disrupts Lumen’s or Alkira’s current plans and operations; the risk of litigation that could be instituted against Lumen or its directors and executive officers and/or regulatory actions related to the proposed acquisition, including the effects of any outcomes related thereto; and other business effects, including the effects of industry, market, economic, political or regulatory conditions. In addition, actual results or performance of Lumen before and after closing of the proposed acquisition may differ materially from any future results or performance expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements made herein for a number of additional reasons as described in Lumen’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated by its other filings with the SEC from time to time. Additional factors or risks that we currently deem immaterial, that are not presently known to us, or that arise in the future could also cause our actual results to differ materially from the results anticipated by us in forward-looking statements. Given these uncertainties, investors are cautioned not to unduly rely upon our forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as a result of new information, future events or developments, changed circumstances, or otherwise. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements. Furthermore, any information about our intentions contained in any of our forward-looking statements reflects our intentions as of the date of such forward-looking statement, and is based upon, among other things, our assessment of regulatory, technological, industry, competitive, economic, or market conditions as of such date. We may change our intentions, strategies or plans (including our capital allocation plans) at any time and without notice, based upon any changes in such factors or otherwise, and we undertake no obligation to make any public announcement of such changed intentions, except to the extent required by applicable law.}

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