AT&T Invests More Than $625 million Over 3-Year Period to Boost Local Networks in the Washington Metropolitan Area
AT&T Invests More Than $625 million Over 3-Year Period to Boost Local Networks in the Washington Metropolitan Area |
[16-July-2019] |
WASHINGTON, July 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- At AT&T1, we invested more than $625 million in our Washington Metropolitan Area wireless and wired networks during 2016-2018. These investments boost reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for residents and businesses. We've also improved critical services that support Public Safety and first responders using the FirstNet communications platform. This investment has helped AT&T become the fastest wireless network in Washington D.C., and the nation, according to the second quarter 2019 results from tests taken with Speedtest® and analyzed by Ookla®. 2 In 2018, AT&T made wireless network upgrades throughout the Washington Metropolitan Area, including new cell sites, boosting network capacity and new wireless high-speed internet connections. AT&T's investment is essential to realizing the vision of the Greater Washington Board of Trade's recently announced Greater Washington Smart Region Movement, according to Jack McDougle, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. "Our mission is to be the nation's leading digitally enabled region," said McDougle. "We will meet this mission through the commitment of our regional leaders, collaboration among the public and private sectors, and investments by AT&T and other companies to strengthen and expand our mobile broadband infrastructure." "We're investing in this region to enhance coverage for our customers and FirstNet subscribers – and to help this region continue to compete and grow," said Marc Blakeman, president, AT&T-Mid Atlantic. Blakeman added that AT&T is committed to working with state and local officials to develop policies that help speed up the installation of equipment called small cells. Virginia's state leaders passed a measure that encourages companies to invest more in this wireless infrastructure, so AT&T is speeding our small cells build out plans in the Commonwealth. Also, recently adopted DC Department of Transportation guidelines have cleared the way to install small cells. AT&T's investment in this technology will further enhance local networks to meet growing demand for mobile broadband and serve as the foundation for services like 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), smart cities and more. Additionally, for the 5th consecutive year we've landed on Fortune magazine's list of the "World's Most Admired" companies. It's also the 6th year in a row we've appeared on the Global Top 50 list – no other telecom company made the Top 50. Transforming Public Safety Communications Building upon our current and planned investments in the Washington Metropolitan Area we continue to extend the reach and increase the capacity of the FirstNet communications platform: - We deployed Band 14 spectrum in more than 600 markets nationwide, including the Washington Metropolitan Area. Band 14 is high-quality spectrum provided by the First Responder Network Authority. Its signal covers larger geographic areas with less infrastructure to better support rural communities, and it can better reach in-building in more urban areas as compared to higher-MHz spectrum. FirstNet is built with AT&T in a public-private partnership with the First Responder Network Authority – an independent agency within the federal government. This helps ensure that the FirstNet communications platform and service offerings meet the short- and long-term needs of the public safety community. To learn more about our wireless coverage in the Washington Metro Area or anywhere in the U.S., go to the AT&T Coverage Viewer. For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please go to the AT&T network news page. 1 AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements *About AT&T Communications AT&T Communications is part of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). Learn more at att.com/CommunicationsNews. AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at facebook.com/att and on YouTube at youtube.com/att. © 2019 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners. **Based on analysis by Ookla® of Speedtest Intelligence® data average download speeds for Q2 2019.
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