LUMN vs GDS Comparison

Lumen Technologies is one of the largest telecommunications carriers serving global enterprises. The merger with Level 3 in 2017, the 2022 divestiture of much of its local phone business in rural areas, and the 2026 sale of its remaining consumer fiber network to AT&T have shifted the company's operations away from the legacy consumer business and toward enterprise services, which account for about 85%-90% of revenue. Lumen offers businesses a full suite of communications services, providing colocation and data center services, data transportation, phone service, and internet access.

GDS Holdings started as an IT service provider in 2001, then moved to the data center business with its first self-developed data center opening in 2010. The company now develops and operates data centers in China and also builds, operates, and transfers data centers for other clients. It offers colocation and managed services and mainly targets hyperscale cloud service customers who take large areas of its data centers or even whole data centers under long-term contracts. Its data centers are located predominantly in and around the Tier 1 cities in China, and it has also started expanding into Southeast Asia via the now 23% owned DayOne. GDS listed on the Nasdaq in 2016 and completed a secondary listing in Hong Kong in 2020.