Lumen Technologies announced it has reached several milestones this year as it progresses on its multiyear effort to add 34 million intercity fiber miles nationwide by the end of 2028. The multibillion-dollar project will give the company a total of 47 million intercity fiber miles, which Lumen officials envision as the “backbone for the AI economy.”
“AI is fueling a surge in network demand like we’ve never seen, and Lumen is building the backbone to meet it,” said Kye Prigg, executive VP, enterprise operations. “This isn’t incremental. We plan to more than double the size of our U.S. network. We’re positioning Lumen as the trusted network for AI, ensuring customers have the network scale, speed and reliability to confidently innovate and grow without constraints.”
Thus far in 2025, Lumen has added more than 2.2 million new intercity fiber miles (2,500-plus route miles) and is projected to reach 16.6 million total intercity fiber miles by year-end, the company said.
In addition, construction is underway at 176 in-line amplifier (ILA) sites. The ILA shelters built on these sites will serve as giant signal boosters along the Lumen network, with up to triple the power density compared to traditional ILA shelters, officials said, adding that they’re designed to be updated, renewed and scaled for the future.
Lumen has also completed IRU conduit deployments across 55 additional routes, expanding the company’s ability to add and control fiber on the routes by securing long-term rights to underground pathways, officials said.
The company has also added more than 5.9 Pbps of total capacity to its network this year and earmarked more than $100 million to bring high-speed connectivity up to 400 Gbps across clouds, data centers and metros. The Lumen 400G-enabled network now spans more than 100,000 route miles, the company said.
