AT&T may go big with its rollout of residential fiber in major markets across the U.S. The company announced a major initiative to expand its Gigabit-capable fiber network to up to 100 cities and municipalities nationwide, including 21 new major metropolitan areas. The company is not changing its CAPEX guidance for 2014. The initiative will fall under Project VIP.
“AT&T U-verse with GigaPower” service is available in parts of Austin, Texas and rollouts were already pending for Dallas and Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
AT&T’s list of 21 candidate metropolitan areas for new fiber rollouts includes: Atlanta, Augusta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Oakland, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, St. Louis, San Francisco, and San Jose (including Campbell, Cupertino and Mountain View). With previously announced markets, AT&T now has committed to or is exploring 25 metro areas for fiber deployment.
“We’re delivering advanced services that offer consumers and small businesses the ability to do more, faster, help communities create a new wave of innovation, and encourage economic development,” said Lori Lee, senior executive vice president, AT&T Home Solutions. “We’re interested in working with communities that appreciate the value of the most advanced technologies and are willing to encourage investment by offering solid investment cases and policies.”
In February, Google announced plans to expand its fiber broadband projects beyond Kansas City, Austin and Provo to include up 34 additional cities over the next few years.
The company is now encouraging cities in 8 metro regions across the U.S. to consider undertake a joint planning process to map out a Google Fiber network in detail and also assess what unique local challenges such a rollout might face.
