Lumen Technologies reports third quarter 2023 results

Lumen Technologies reported results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023. The company reported a loss of $78 million on $578 million of net income. The company is laying off four percent of its employees. Lumen also struck a deal with a group of creditors holding more than $7 billion of company debt that will extend debt securities and commit $1.2 billion of financing through new long-term debt. Lumen also dialed back the pace of the ongoing fiber buildout at its Mass Markets unit. The new plan is to build fiber to another 500,000 locations in 2024, matching what it expects to complete in 2023. That's down from an earlier plan to bump the buildout pace to 800,000 locations annually. That whole project ties into an original plan to build fiber to an additional 5 million to 7 million locations in the coming years and expand Lumen's overall fiber footprint. Lumen added 141,000 fiber "enablements" in Q3 2023, extending its total to 3.5 million locations. The company added 19,000 fiber subscribers in Q3, below the +27,000 expected by MoffettNathanson. Paired with a loss of -92,000 non-fiber subscriptions, Lumen shed 73,000 broadband customers in the quarter.