Lumen Technologies is transforming from a traditional telecom operator into a key player in AI networking, with clients including Anthropic and the New York Yankees. President and CFO Chris Stansbury said Gartner recently named Lumen the company “to beat” in enterprise wide area network (WAN) and connectivity services for AI. Lumen’s acquisition of Alkira, a cloud networking platform, reverses the industry trend of ceding the software layer to big tech, positioning Lumen as neutral infrastructure that can move data across networks and clouds it does not own. Stansbury and CEO Kate Johnson have worked together for about four years, first stabilizing the company. Stansbury inherited $10 billion of debt maturing in 2027 across three competing borrowing entities. Lumen cut its dividend, restructured with creditors, refinanced debt and sold non-strategic assets, reducing total debt below $13 billion under a single entity. That allowed Lumen to acquire Alkira and get aggressive on network-as-a-service (NaaS), which is growing 20–30% quarter over quarter, versus about 1% annually for the legacy networking market. Lumen is building toward 47 million fiber miles by 2028 and 58 million by 2031, backed by nearly $13 billion in private connectivity fabric deals, including an Anthropic contract announced earlier this year. Last month, Lumen announced a partnership with the Yankees, who need consistent connectivity across Yankee Stadium and their spring training facility in