Nationwide Coverage Surpasses 2.91 Million
Square Miles; Tribal Land Coverage Increases by 40% in Last 2
Years
DALLAS, March 22,
2023 /PRNewswire/ --
What's the news? From Fiber to 5G, AT&T* has hit
significant network milestones that are aggressively expanding
coverage, increasing capacity and strengthening network resiliency.
Over the past 5 years (2018–2022), AT&T invested more than
$140 billion primarily in our
U.S. wireless and wireline networks, including capital investments
and acquisitions of wireless spectrum.1 It's helping us
open the door to a world of possibility for people and businesses
across the AT&T network and helping first responders save lives
with mission-critical connectivity on the
FirstNet® network. See how we're doing it:
Setting the bar for network resiliency: We're
focused on becoming the best, biggest and most resilient network in
America. Last year, we led the industry by establishing a
3rd "emergency" pathway to each mobility network hub
(MTSO) to combat extreme weather and climate events as well as
increasing instabilities in the commercial power infrastructure
landscape. Thanks to this initiative, we've reduced the
likelihood of major outages by nearly 35%. And we're undergoing
the largest refresh of our power backup systems in the history of
our network – investing millions of dollars in generators,
batteries and systems to help keep our network up and running when
there is a local power outage. In addition, using network digital
twin, we're able to simplify processes, model resiliency measures
and forecast how to optimize our build. And we've been working with
the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory to
model future climate impacts through our Climate Change Analysis
Tool. These insights are helping us make data-driven decisions for
how we prioritize resiliency investments for the future. And when
Mother Nature does strike, we're at the ready with one of the
largest and most advanced disaster recovery programs of its
kind.
Connecting people on the go: We have the best global
coverage of any U.S. wireless provider.2 And with the
largest wireless network in America,3 we now cover
more than 2.91 million square miles. That's an increase of
about 100,000 square miles in 2022, or like covering the entire
United Kingdom. And we've grown
America's Most Reliable 5G Network4 to reach 290 million
people in nearly 24,000 cities and towns across the U.S.
We've also increased coverage by more than 40%
on federally recognized tribal lands in the last 2 years (2020
– 2022) thanks to public-private partnerships like FirstNet and
those created through the American Rescue Plan, as well as our own
investment initiatives. This includes places like Cherokee Nation
in Kenwood, Oklahoma where people
previously had to drive more than 10 miles to get
mobile cell service.
Plus, as of the end of 2022, more than 150 million people could
take advantage of our mid-band 5G spectrum – more than double our
original end-of-year 2022 target. We also doubled the number of
venues and airports with AT&T 5G+ last year to now bring
super-fast speeds and increased connectivity to parts of more than
50 cities and nearly 70 venues and airports in the U.S.
Connecting first responders: As America's public
safety's communications partner, we're giving more of the public
safety community access to their network. FirstNet already
covers 99%+ of the U.S. population, covering more first responders
than any network5. And now public safety on FirstNet has
access to 250,000+ more square miles than competing
commercial network offerings. We've also surpassed 99%+ of our Band
14 coverage target with the First Responder Network Authority
(FirstNet Authority), delivering more dedicated connectivity to
federal, state, tribal, territorial, urban and rural first
responders when they need it.
Building a network for tomorrow: Fiber is our foundation.
In fact, we have so much fiber that you could stretch it to the
moon and back 3 times. In 2022, we laid more than 60,000 miles
of fiber in the U.S. alone. All that fiber helps carry more
than 594 petabytes of data traffic on an average day, up 23%
year-over-year (or the equivalent of streaming nearly 40 million
2-hour long movies in HD).
And as the nation's largest fiber internet provider,6
we're committed to providing more Americans with access to
reliable, high-speed broadband. This is critical as people are
consuming roughly 30 times more data in their own homes than
on the go with smartphones. Currently, AT&T Fiber is available
to more households than any other fiber internet
service.6 And we've passed 24 million locations –
including 4 million business locations – in 100+ U.S.
metros7 – that's on track to pass 30+ million locations
by the end of 2025.
As much as we depend on connectivity today, we think this is
only the beginning. It's why we're also testing and helping develop
innovative, out-of-this-world satellite solutions for remote and
challenging geographic locations. This includes our collaboration
with AST SpaceMobile on testing the first-of-its-kind
space-based cellular broadband network (i.e., voice, text and
video) accessible directly by standard mobile phones – helping
to one day keep you connected, anywhere.
Learn more about coverage in your local area or read more
FirstNet news.
What are people saying?
Chris Sambar
Head
of AT&T Network
"Society thrives on connection. And our
people, resources and expertise are what's making AT&T the best
connectivity provider. These network milestones reinforce this, and
we'll continue to expand and fortify our infrastructure to give
more communities – rural, urban and tribal – access to the
connectivity we all rely on."
Lynda
Zambrano
Executive Director, National Tribal
Emergency Management Council
"There has been historical
underinvestment in broadband infrastructure on Tribal Nations.
FirstNet, Built with AT&T is helping tackle this problem by
making buildout for Tribal communities a priority. With this
expanded connectivity, Tribal first responders have new tools to
help them communicate and coordinate their emergency operations to
serve our tribal communities."
1The years
ended December 31, 2020 through 2022 present results from
continuing operations, and the years ended December 31, 2018 and
2019 include comparable adjustments to remove capital expenditures
from discontinued operations.
|
2Based on
destination coverage in select countries:
https://www.att.com/ecms/dam/att/consumer/upperfunnel/2018/pdf/International-Travel-Guide.pdf.
|
3Based on
comparison of carrier owned & operated networks. No AT&T
on-net coverage in select countries, including Canada. Details:
https://www.att.com/international/. Destinations covered:
att.com/globalcountries.
|
4Based on
nationwide GWS drive test data. GWS conducts paid drive tests for
AT&T and uses the data in its analysis. AT&T 5G requires
compatible plan and device. 5G not available everywhere. Go to
att.com/5Gforyou for details.
|
5Coverage
not available everywhere. Based upon AT&T analysis of 3rd-party
data.
|
6Based on
the number of fiber to the home households using publicly available
data.
|
7As of EOY
2022.
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*About AT&T
We help more than 100 million U.S.
families, friends and neighbors, plus nearly 2.5 million
businesses, connect to greater possibility. From the first phone
call 140+ years ago to our 5G wireless and multi-gig internet
offerings today, we @ATT innovate to improve lives. For more
information about AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), please visit us at
about.att.com. Investors can learn more at investors.att.com.
©2023 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved.
AT&T and the Globe logo are registered trademarks of AT&T
Intellectual Property. FirstNet and the FirstNet logo are
registered trademarks and service marks of the First Responder
Network Authority. All other marks are the property of their
respective owners.
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SOURCE AT&T