AT&T to extend fibre rollout

US operator AT&T has announced plans to expand its fibre network across the US to up to 100 further cities and municipalities. The operator will be extending the footprint its triple play U-Verse TV, fixed internet and telephony service which it claims delivers speeds of up to 1Gbps.

AT&T now wants to extend the service to municipalities across 21 metropolitan areas including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Orlando and San Diego. The operator said it selected the municipalities based on the expected investment required and the anticipated demand in those areas.

AT&T’s move comes as web giant Google pushes on with its own fibre network rollout placing competitive pressure on the nation’s fixed line players. AT&T has previously announced network rollouts in Austin, Texas and has held “advanced discussions” in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Google too has also rolled out its Google Fiber Network in Austin and has also earmarked Raleigh-Durham as a potential city to roll its network out to next.

“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.”

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Meanwhile, video on demand OTT services provider Netflix named AT&T’s U-Verse service the 12^th fastest fixed line service on the market, behind the DSL services of ISPs CenturyLink, Windstream and Fronteir. AT&T’s own DSL service was ranked 14^th fastest of the 16 ISPs monitored, while Cablevision took top spot. Last month, Netflix criticised the nation’s larger ISPs for charging “potentially escalating fees” to OTT service providers to ensure quality of service on access networks.