AT&T/Lumen brings on the competitive heat for cable

As if cable didn’t have enough problems with fiber competitors, AT&T’s $5.75 billion Lumen deal shows just how much operators have to weather from the consolidation storm. Cox, which is merging with Charter for $34.5 billion, has the biggest exposure to Lumen, said the analysts at BNP Paribas, as 36 percent of Cox’s footprint overlaps with Lumen’s legacy copper network. Lumen is selling most of its Mass Markets consumer fiber business, but it’s notably keeping its copper-based customers. When it comes to fiber, Comcast isn’t out of the line of fire. According to New Street Research, the operator has the most exposure to Lumen’s current and future fiber markets, which so far consist of nearly 1 million subscribers in 11 states. Charter, meanwhile, has a “relatively small presence” in the Lumen fiber footprint. For AT&T’s part, it plans to double its fiber passings goal to around 60 million locations by 2030, expanding its presence in the central U.S. and Pacific Northwest markets.