Lumen CFO expects up to $1.5 billion from legacy copper amid pivot to AI connectivity

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"Copper is worth more to us mined than operated," says Chris Stansbury, as Lumen moves to shut down about a quarter of its copper network by the end of next year.

Good morning. As Lumen Technologies transforms from a legacy telecom company into an AI enterprise connectivity provider, it’s finding a new use for its old copper network: mining it.

“Copper is worth more to us mined than operated,” President and CFO Chris Stansbury said.

Lumen plans to turn off copper-based services in Iowa, Florida, Nevada and Utah, about 25% of its copper network, by the end of next year. At current copper prices, Lumen expects $1 billion to $1.5 billion in pretax net proceeds from copper recovery over the next five years, Stansbury said.

The benefits extend beyond the metal. Decommissioning will also cut the operating and capital costs of maintaining aging infrastructure, simplify operations, and free up resources for higher-return investments, he said.

“We’re now at the point in our transformation with legacy where the cash generation from revenue is actually not as good as what will be cash generation from mining the copper that’s in the ground,” Stansbury told me. “This industry is sitting on one of the largest copper mines in the world.”

Lumen plans to work with regulators and meet its service obligations as it stops marketing new copper services.

The strategy is part of a broader effort to reinvent Lumen, No. 354 on the Fortune 500, as an enterprise connectivity provider for the AI era. Lumen pairs its large fiber network with Alkira’s software, which works with any carrier. That lets companies connect and manage their data from one place, whether it sits on Lumen’s network, another provider’s network, in the cloud, or in data centers. The company recently announced three initiatives involving intelligent networking, AI energy challenges, quantum connectivity, and emerging security threats.

There are signs of progress. Lumen reported third-quarter revenue of $2.72 billion, down 12.1% year over year, largely reflecting the sale of its consumer fiber business to AT&T.

More importantly, strategic revenue, higher-growth enterprise and fiber-based…

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