AT&T expands broadband reach

AT&T is launching a series of initiatives it says is aimed at making broadband more widely available, including satellite and broadband wireless service for rural areas, and Project Lightspeed deployment in low-income areas.

Speaking to the Detroit Economic Club earlier today, AT&T Chairman and CEO Edward Whitacre said the intent is to “bring the benefits of broadband to all our customers.”

To provide broadband satellite service, AT&T has teamed with satellite ISP WildBlue Communications, under a non-exclusive operating agreement that allows AT&T to re-sell WildBlue's broadband Internet access service beginning later this month.

The service will be branded as “AT&T High Speed Internet Access, powered by WildBlue,” the companies said. WildBlue provides service to homes and small businesses in communities not currently served, or underserved, by other broadband providers. The company will provide equipment management, installation and distribution services to AT&T for its satellite service customers. AT&T will announce further details and ordering information on the service offering later this month.

“We are beginning to offer satellite-based broadband service in areas where our DSL service is not available today, giving more consumers a broadband choice," Whitacre said. “We are partnering with a satellite provider…putting AT&T’s name and muscle behind it.”

The satellite service will be available in select rural markets later this month and in the 13-state local service areas which don’t have DSL today, the company said. It will cost between $49.95 to $79.95 per month, and offer speeds up to 1.5 Mbps downstream and up to 256 Kbps upstream.

AT&T will expand its fixed broadband wireless trials, including WiMAX, to Pahrump, Nevada and the Texas communities of Red Oak and Midlothian this summer, the company said, and the sites “will be used to test ways to use both licensed and unlicensed spectrum to better serve rural parts of the country,” according to Whitacre.

AT&T is already testing fixed broadband wireless in Alaska, Georgia and New Jersey. The Alaska tests in Aniak and Northway will be converted to commercial service, Whitacre said, and AT&T also has launched a limited wireless broadband access service in the North Texas communities of Frisco, McKinny, Prosper, Centennial and Little Elm. The service costs $39.95 a month.

Whitacre also said AT&T would not restrict its Project LightSpeed investment to upscale neighborhoods but would wire 5.5 million low-income houses in the 41 markets it plans to build out. The company said it would do this within the next three years.

“Whenever I talk about Lightspeed, people’s eyes light up,” Whitacre said in Detroit. “And they want to know when it will be available in their community. Of course, that’s the same thing our cable competitors would like to know as well. And while we don’t reveal detailed roll-out plans for competitive reasons, I would like to stress one point. Project Lightspeed will be deployed wide and far, in keeping with our desire to see broadband everywhere.

“In fact, I am pleased to note that we will deploy Project Lightspeed to reach more than five-point-five million low-income households in 41 markets during its initial roll-out,” he said. “Neighborhoods of all demographics and income levels will have access to this technology – from the start.”