AT&T gets green light to bring 1 Gig fiber-based broadband service to Nashville

AT&T (NYSE: T) has received local regulatory clearance to bring its 1 Gbps-capable fiber to the home (FTTH) to Nashville, Tenn., the latest of several cities where the telco has announced it will offer its fiber-based broadband service.

"We are very pleased that AT&T has selected Nashville for its ultra-high speed fiber network," said Nashville Mayor Karl Dean in a release. "This kind of technology is important to keep our city vibrant and attractive, and it is further proof of how Nashville is positioned as a city of the future."

Similar to other areas where it plans to offer the service, AT&T will deploy necessary fiber facilities and GPON-based optical line terminal (OLT) in area central offices (CO) and optical network terminals (ONTs).

The fiber-based service initially will be available to select areas with plans to extend it to additional sections of the city throughout this year and beyond. The company will reveal specific locations where the service will be available and pricing for the Nashville market at a later date.

While GigaPower is going to get the majority of attention, AT&T is also expanding its traditional fiber to the node (FTTN)-based U-verse footprint throughout the state. The telco currently offers U-verse in 158 communities in Tennessee, including Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, Chattanooga, Jackson and surrounding areas.

AT&T has said it would conduct GigaPower-related expansion talks with municipalities in at least 21 new major metros, including Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City and Los Angeles. As part of that plan, AT&T is considering five other Tennessee areas--Clarksville, Franklin, Murfreesboro, Smyrna and Spring Hill--as candidate municipalities for the service.  

After seeing high demand for its FTTH service in the Austin, Texas, area when it launched the service last December, AT&T announced it would expand the fiber network to double the households in the area. AT&T also has announced plans to expand to Dallas and Fort Worth this summer. Additional agreements also have been reached in North Carolina to bring AT&T GigaPower to Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem.

If AT&T's pending acquisition of DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) goes through, the telco intends to expand FTTH to an additional 2 million customer locations.

For more:
- see the release

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