AT&T completes transition of GigaPower customers in Austin to 1 Gig

AT&T (NYSE: T) has transitioned all of its U-verse with GigaPower fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) residential and business customers in Austin, Texas, to 1 Gbps speeds, up from the initial 300 Mbps it initially offered.

In tandem with the speed upgrade, the telco has doubled the reach of the fiber network in Austin and surrounding communities in what it says was a recently completed expansion.

After its launch of the new fiber-based broadband service exceeded its expectations last December, AT&T announced it would double the reach of its last mile fiber network in Austin by the end of 2014.

However, AT&T completed the network expansion in September, three months ahead of plans, enabling it to reach tens of thousands of additional homes and small businesses in Austin and surrounding communities, including parts of Bastrop, Cedar Park, Dripping Springs, Jollyville, Lakeway, Leander, Pflugerville and Round Rock. 

Besides the 1 Gig data last mile speeds it delivers to each premises, AT&T said it is moving to offer higher Wi-Fi speeds inside each customer location for new and existing FTTP customers. AT&T said that existing U-verse with AT&T GigaPower customers will be eligible to receive a new Wi-Fi gateway at no charge once available.   

AT&T is also looking to entice customers to its wireless service by offering Austin-area customers a new or existing U-verse GigaPower service plan with a one-time $100 promotional credit on their monthly wireless bill. Running through Nov. 8, customers are required to have a qualifying AT&T wireless plan and a U-verse with AT&T GigaPower high speed Internet plan for 45 days to receive a $100 bill credit.

The service provider has committed to building its AT&T GigaPower network in 12 new markets, including Charlotte, Cupertino, Greensboro, Houston, Jacksonville, Miami, Nashville, Overland Park, Kan., Raleigh-Durham, St. Louis, San Antonio and Winston-Salem. What's more, AT&T is exploring expansion to up to 100 candidate cities across 25 markets nationwide.

Upon approval of its proposed acquisition of DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV), the service provider said it will expand the U-verse with AT&T GigaPower network to an additional 2 million customer locations. This is above what the company announced in April.

For more:
- see the release

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