Communities that fit the bill might be in line for U-verse ultra-fast broadband from AT&T (NYSE: T). The carrier said it's looking at up to 100 candidate cities and municipalities, including 21 major metropolitan areas, as places to put its U-verse GigaPower service with broadband speeds up to 1 Gbps.
It should go without saying, but needs to be noted nevertheless, that Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) too is canvassing communities across the country with its own 1 Gbps Google Fiber service.
AT&T's biggest qualifier, the carrier said in a press release, is that communities must have "suitable network facilities and show the strongest investment cases based on anticipated demand." It will also help if they have "receptive policies," the carrier added.
"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," Lori Lee, senior executive vice president of AT&T Home Solutions said in a press release. "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."
AT&T has already approached Austin and Dallas, Texas, and has feelers out to Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem, N.C. The expanded list of 21 metro areas the company released includes Atlanta and Augusta, Ga.; Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C.; Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston, Texas; Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami and Orlando, Fla.; Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif.; Chicago, Cleveland, Kansas City, Nashville and St. Louis. The total reaches the century mark when nearby suburbs are added to the list of potential candidates.
The GigaPower expansion is part of AT&T's ongoing Project Velocity IP (VIP), a multibillion-dollar network upgrade to expand the broadband capabilities of its wireless and wireline networks. AT&T said it expects its wired IP broadband network to reach 57 million customers over its 22-state footprint by the end of 2015.
For more:
- AT&T has this press release
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