AT&T Business is expanding its 400G wavelength connectivity footprint across additional U.S. metropolitan markets, extending high-capacity optical transport services designed to support AI-driven workloads, cloud connectivity, and large-scale data movement. The company said its 400G wavelength edgeless handoff capability is now enabled across 440,000 properties serving more than 2.3 million business tenants, with eligible deployments available within 15 days.
The latest expansion adds 400G-enabled data center connectivity in Ashburn, Virginia; Atlanta; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Englewood, Colorado; Kent, Washington; Los Angeles; Miami; New York; Portland, Oregon; San Jose, California; Seattle; Secaucus, New Jersey; and Tempe, Arizona. AT&T said the expansion brings 400G wavelength services to more than 40 metro markets nationwide, leveraging its network of more than 130 carrier hotels and interconnection hubs.
AT&T is positioning the service as a foundation for AI-era networking requirements, including AI training and inference, data replication, cloud interconnection, and analytics pipelines. Rather than relying on multiple lower-capacity circuits, enterprises can use 400 Gbps optical wavelengths to connect campuses, branch locations, cloud on-ramps, edge sites, and data centers with predictable performance and simplified scaling as traffic demands increase.
• 400G wavelength handoff capability enabled across 440,000 business properties
• More than 2.3 million business tenants within service footprint
• Service now available across more than 40 U.S. metro markets
• Connectivity anchored through more than 130 carrier hotels nationwide
• New 400G-enabled markets include Ashburn, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Jose, Seattle, and Miami
• Eligible deployments can be activated within 15 days
• Supports AI training, AI inference, cloud interconnection, data replication, and analytics workloads
“As enterprises scale AI and data-intensive applications, they need a network foundation that can grow with them and deliver the capacity and consistency required between the places where data is created, processed, and stored,” said Viraj Parekh, vice president of converged networking at AT&T Business. “By expanding 400G wavelength connectivity into additional metros, we’re giving businesses more options to connect AI from anywhere to the cloud with confidence.”
🌐 Analysis
AT&T’s announcement reflects a broader industry shift toward higher-capacity optical services as hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises deploy increasingly distributed AI infrastructure. While 100G wavelengths dominated enterprise optical services for much of the past decade, carriers and infrastructure providers are rapidly transitioning to 400G as the new baseline for data center interconnect (DCI), cloud connectivity, and AI transport networks.
Several major providers have accelerated 400G deployments over the past two years. Zayo has expanded 400G-enabled long-haul and metro routes across North America, while Lumen has promoted 400G and 800G optical capabilities as part of its Private Connectivity Fabric strategy. Arelion continues to deploy 400G wavelengths across its global backbone, and euNetworks has focused on 400G-enabled metro and intercity routes supporting cloud and AI customers throughout Europe. Meanwhile, optical equipment suppliers including Ciena, Nokia, Infinera, and Cisco are increasingly highlighting coherent 400G, 800G, and future 1.6 Tbps transport technologies aimed at AI infrastructure operators.
For AT&T, the latest metro expansion builds on several recent optical networking initiatives, including the launch of Express Waves services, the deployment of its Wavelength Edgeless architecture, and the company’s successful demonstration of a 1.6 Tbps single-carrier optical wavelength. Together, these developments illustrate how large service providers are evolving their transport networks from traditional telecommunications infrastructure into platforms optimized for AI-scale connectivity, cloud interconnection, and high-performance data movement.
AT&T Optical & AI Infrastructure Strategy Updated June 2026 | |
| 400G Metro Reach | More than 40 U.S. metro markets with 400G wavelength connectivity supporting enterprise, cloud and AI workloads. |
| Service Footprint | 440,000 connected properties serving more than 2.3 million business tenants. |
| Carrier Hotel Strategy | More than 130 carrier hotels nationwide act as interconnection hubs for cloud, enterprise and network traffic. |
| Wavelength Edgeless | Architecture designed to extend high-capacity wavelength services without requiring traditional edge infrastructure at every customer location. |
| Express Waves | Pre-provisioned 100G and 400G wavelength services on selected routes with activation measured in hours rather than weeks. |
| 1.6 Tbps Milestone | Successful single-carrier 1.6 Tbps optical transmission trial demonstrating future network scaling capabilities. |
| AI Networking Focus | Supports AI training clusters, inference infrastructure, data replication, cloud interconnection and distributed analytics environments. |
| Deployment Timeline | Eligible 400G wavelength services can be provisioned within 15 days. |
| Strategic Direction | Positioning optical transport infrastructure as a core component of AI-era networking alongside compute, storage and cloud platforms. |
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