Apollo Global Management, a global alternative investment manager firm, completed the acquisition of the incumbent local exchange carrier assets of Lumen Technologies, an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, for $7.5bn. "The team at Lumen has built a great business and we see an incredible opportunity to provide leading edge, fiber-to-the-home broadband technology to millions of its business and residential customers. Our investment will help accelerate the upgrade to fiber optic technologies, and we are excited to have such a high-caliber management team ready to bring faster and more reliable internet service to many rural markets traditionally underserved by broadband providers," Aaron Sobel, Apollo Private Equity Partner.