AT&T Stretching Gig Services to 5 New Metro Areas

AT&T is extending gigabit service on its fiber network to five more major metro areas, with launches beginning this month, according to a release issued on Monday.

By the end of the month, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), the largest telco in the US, plans to expand AT&T Fiber to 51 major metro areas. AT&T identified its new Gigabit target markets as: Columbia, S.C.; Jackson, Miss.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Milwaukee, Wis.; and Shreveport, La. AT&T plans to expand its fiber network to at least 12.5 million customer locations in 67 metro areas by the middle of 2019. (See AT&T Going Gig in 50+ Metros.)

AT&T Fiber is currently available in nearly 4 million businesses and residences nationwide, an increase of 1 million since November 2016, with more than 650,000 being apartments and condo units.

CenturyLink Inc. (NYSE: CTL), another major US operator, is also charging ahead with gigabit deployments, as noted in its fourth-quarter 2016 earnings statement released early this month. According to the release, CenturyLink "increased the percentage of addressable units capable of receiving 100Mbps and 1Gig broadband speeds year-over-year by 31% and 53%, respectively, ending the year with more than 3.3 million addressable units capable of 100Mbps or higher and approximately 1.3 million addressable units capable of 1Gig or higher."

— Kelsey Kusterer Ziser, Senior Editor, Light Reading