Brightspeed

In 2021, Apollo Global Management announced a landmark agreement to acquire Lumen Technologies' incumbent local exchange carrier assets across 20 states, creating a new kind of internet provider with a singular focus on bridging America's digital divide. The founders recognized that millions of homes and businesses in rural and suburban communities were being left behind without access to reliable, high-speed connectivity. This wasn't just about faster downloads - it was about enabling remote work, telehealth, online education, and economic opportunity for communities that had been overlooked for too long.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Brightspeed launched with a multi-billion-dollar commitment to deploy state-of-the-art fiber networks across the Midwest and Southeast. As the nation's fifth-largest incumbent local exchange carrier and third-largest fiber broadband builder, the company has already passed more than 2 million fiber-enabled locations and is on track to reach 5 million. By investing in next-generation infrastructure with low latency and consistent performance, Brightspeed is redefining what's possible for digital infrastructure in underserved America - one community at a time.