Lumen Technologies reported a non-GAAP EPS of $0.23 for the fourth quarter of 2025, beating the consensus forecast by roughly $0.50 and marking its third consecutive quarterly earnings surprise. Total revenue for the period was $3.04 billion, down 8.7% year-over-year as legacy voice and data services continued to contract. Despite the top-line decline, management highlighted that adjusted EBITDA margin expanded by 180 basis points to 32.6%, driven by aggressive cost controls and lower operating expenses in network operations.

In November 2025, Lumen completed the sale of its local fiber operations to AT&T for $5.75 billion in cash. Proceeds were used primarily to pay down outstanding debt, reducing total debt by nearly 12% and cutting annualized interest expense by 45%. The transaction improved the company’s leverage ratio to 3.8x net debt/EBITDA from 4.5x at the end of Q3, providing enhanced financial flexibility to fund network modernization and emerging growth initiatives without triggering debt covenant breaches.

Lumen’s strategic focus is increasingly on enterprise and digital infrastructure products, where higher margins and recurring revenue profiles reside. During the quarter, the company closed over $13 billion in private connectivity framework (PCF) deals with hyperscale AI clients, reflecting strong fiber demand for low-latency, high-bandwidth services. Network as a Service (NaaS) contracts also grew 27% year-over-year, and enterprise cloud connect solutions expanded 22%, underscoring the accelerating adoption of Lumen’s digital infrastructure portfolio.