Lumen invests to expand US intercity network by 6 million fibre miles

DENVER, CANADA – PRNewswire. Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) has been diligent in responding to business's needs for more network capacity, and recently created the largest ultra-low-loss fibre network in the world. To meet the continuing demand for fibre, Lumen is now investing in another six million fibre miles, expected to be installed by 2026.

The Lumen Difference:

Once complete, Lumen's U.S. intercity investment will reach nearly 12 million fibre miles, creating diverse routes to more than 50 major cities across the country. To set this network apart from others, Lumen continues upgrading its infrastructure using a multi-conduit system, allowing for the quick deployment of the latest fibre technology.

"We are creating a next-gen network, and fibre type matters," said Andrew Dugan, Lumen chief technology officer. "As demand for optical fibre increases and technology evolves, Lumen's multi-conduit infrastructure means we can install the latest fibre type quickly and economically. It's difficult to upgrade legacy intercity networks without multiple conduits. These networks end up being stuck with older fibre technology. Lumen is fixing that issue with our upgraded technology. We can extend signal reach to help reduce equipment costs and increase bandwidth capacity. Using ultra-low-loss fibre on the Lumen network is a major component of what differentiates us from other network providers."

Lumen is continuing to use Corning's SMF-28® ULL fibre and SMF-28® Ultra fibre to upgrade its intercity infrastructure and add capacity to its network. This is the latest in optical technology.

The Customer Advantage:

• Lumen has upgraded over 24,000 route miles across its U.S. intercity network. This enhances network performance levels and supports the deployment of its Next-Generation Optical platform. This platform was specifically designed to handle increasing network traffic.
   
• This fibre technology can support customer Wavelength services up to 400G now and increasing customer speeds in the future. This helps meet businesses high bandwidth needs and allow their data to be acquired and analysed in real-time.
• Businesses will benefit through this fibre network designed to offer a faster connection to the big cloud service providers. They can also design and build their own network services to support their digital needs using an app called Topology Viewer.
• Companies seeking highly reliable, low-latency network infrastructure along their digital journeys will benefit from this latest fibre technology. That includes businesses, government agencies and providers seeking fibre to build their own secure, scalable networks for next-generation applications.

See Lumen's expanded intercity network map:  https://news.lumen.com/image/Lumen-NorthAmericaOverpullMap-November2022.pdf.