AT&T is in talks to acquire Lumen Technologies’ consumer fiber operations, in a deal that could value the unit at more than $5.5 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
Shares of Lumen were down more than 14% after the report.
The terms, which are not yet finalized, could change or the talks might still collapse, according to the report.
The potential move to offload the fiber business, which provides high-speed internet services to residential customers, comes as Lumen is doubling down on the AI boom to power its near-term growth, while grappling with a rapid decline of its legacy business.
Lumen kicked off a process to sell its consumer fiber operations, Reuters reported in December.
The fiber-optic cable provider has over 1,700 wire centers across its total network, with consumer fiber available in about 400 of them.
U.S. telecom giant AT&T has been investing in its high-speed fiber internet offerings to help drive faster subscriber and revenue growth. Earlier this month, it had forecast first-quarter adjusted profit in line with analysts’ estimate. US News