Lumen announced a significant change to its channel strategy in July, with the company pulling back from voice services and shifting its focus to other priorities such as network-as-a-service (NaaS), wavelength, security and fiber. As of August 1, Lumen is no longer offering net-new contracts or renewal compensation for its SIP trunking and Voice Complete lines, along with voice solutions for Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Lumen hasn’t announced an end-of-life date for its voice services, meaning customers will continue receiving support, at least for the time being. At this point, Lumen is planning to move customers to month-to-month contracts after their agreements expire. This decision signals that Lumen’s voice customers are on borrowed time, with potential issues if they wait too long to plan their next move. For technology advisors, this creates an immediate opportunity to help customers restructure their voice environments and open broader transformation conversations. How Voice is Changing While incumbent carriers such as Lumen transition away from legacy voice products, organizations are continuing to invest in modern communications — which is why voice remains a key growth lever for channel partners. According to Metrigy, 57 percent of organizations now use UCaaS exclusively. Nearly two-thirds of organizations expect their UCaaS spend to increase this year, with additional budget increases planned in 2027. Companies are also investing heavily in AI agents and using voice as a foundational customer experience component. At the same time, the rapid retirement of legacy copper infrastructure is creating challenges for businesses and technology advisors. MetTel is closely watching this transition as incumbent carriers accelerate plans to retire their copper networks. “Recent FCC orders removing certain regulatory requirements have made it easier for ILECs to retire their copper networks, and retirement activity is expected to increase substantially,” explained Sean Sullivan, MetTel vice president of product management. “AT&T has already established a target of completing its copper retirement initiative by December 2029, creating a relatively short window of opportunity for technology advisors to help customers transition to modern POTS replacement solutions.” According to Sullivan, this opportunity is significant when considering that customers typically standardize on a single POTS replacement platform once they start migrating away from copper. “After a solution has been selected and deployed, it is generally expanded across the customer’s entire portfolio of POTS lines — regardless of the incumbent carrier,” Sullivan said. “As a result, the decisions made over the next 18 to 24 months will determine long-term market share for many providers.” Replacing legacy services is only part of the opportunity. Voice modernization also gives advisors a chance to assess how voice fits into the customer’s broader technology strategy. As with any technology sale, the key is Voice Reset By Gerald Baldino Lumen’s pivot from voice opens doors for advisors to guide transformation discussions 40 CHANNELVISION | SUMMER 2026 CORE COMMUNICATIONS
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