AT&T (NYSE: T) offered a look at where it's spending some of the multiple billions of dollars it has committed to its three-year Project VIP broadband infrastructure upgrade by announcing that it invested "nearly $625 million" in Illinois during the first six months of this year.
According to an AT&T press release, the investment was used in the deployment of advanced wired IP broadband connections (U-verse broadband and IPTV) for nearly 32,250 customer locations in the state as well as for new macro cell sites, small cells and distributed antenna systems (DAS) across the state of Illinois to expand and enhance its 4G LTE network.
In addition to the residential investments, the carrier said it deployed fiber optic connections to "thousands of Illinois businesses" in 125 multi-tenant office buildings across the state.
As usual, AT&T emphasized the mobile aspects of Project VIP, quoting AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza as calling faster wireless connectivity "essential to both quality of life and competitiveness at work."
"No one understands that better than we do and no one is doing more than AT&T to mobilize a world that works for people in Illinois," La Schiazza said in the press release.
Not surprisingly, the investment and the upgrade drew praise from Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn who also emphasized the mobile portion as helping "to ensure that people across the state have greater access to the latest mobile services and applications."
For more:
- AT&T issued this press release
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