CWA Seeks 'Strong Commitments' on Apollo/Lumen Deal

Don't approve Lumen's proposed asset sale to Apollo "without enforceable conditions on fiber investment, employment and plant retirement, and clarification on Connect Holding’s long-term plans," said the Communications Workers of America comments posted Wednesday in docket 21-350 (see 2108200035). Apollo's Connect Holdings would be called Brightspeed after the proposed transaction is completed. Require Connect Holdings to "disclose its investment plans for Brightspeed over a five-year and ten-year timeframe" and prohibit the company from using the capital raised through the transaction or debt offerings to pay dividends for at least three years, CWA said. Impose "strong [fiber to the premises] deployment" and other "specific deployment commitments," it said. Nearly 1,200 CWA workers in 15 bargaining units are located in the 20 states affected by the sale, CWA said. It said the proposed sale "could result in considerable harm to the public interest without strong commitments." Lumen and Apollo declined to comment.