AT&T makes San Antonio the next stop for its 1 Gig fiber-based broadband service

AT&T (NYSE: T) has made it official: San Antonio is the next stop on its 1 Gigabit fiber to the home (FTTH) network journey, the latest in a string of locations in Texas where the telco said it will bring the service.

Similar to the other communities where it announced its intention to bring FTTH services, the service provider will deploy additional fiber and necessary last mile network electronics to its existing network in San Antonio.

However, the service provider has not revealed key details about pricing or where the service will be initially available. It said that "specific locations of availability and pricing for the San Antonio market will be announced at a later date."

City leaders lauded the deal as an example of large telcos and local communities working together to drive new service capabilities.

"The growth of San Antonio's tech industry is due in large part to the on-going cooperation and collaboration between government and the private sector," said Hugh Miller, San Antonio's chief technology director, in a release. "The City of San Antonio is excited about working with AT&T to bring their U-verse with AT&T GigaPower technology to our communities."

Being the home state of its headquarters, Texas has been a key FTTH target for AT&T. 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.

For its part, AT&T has publicly said that its ability to bring FTTH into new communities will be driven by its ability to work with local government agencies to get access to more favorable permitting processes.

Earlier this year, AT&T announced a major initiative to expand its ultra-fast AT&T GigaPower fiber network to up to 100 candidate cities and municipalities across 25 markets throughout the United States.  

AT&T isn't the only provider looking to establish a FTTH foothold in the San Antonio market.

In March, Google Fiber (Nasdaq: GOOG) signed an agreement for the preliminary placement of "fiber huts" throughout the city. San Antonio was named as one of the 34 new cities that Google Fiber cited as a possible destination for its 1 Gbps FTTH service. 

Besides AT&T and Google Fiber, independent telco GVTC--an early FTTH pioneer--is moving ahead with its respective 1 Gbps FTTH plans. The service provider announced last month that it will bring fiber-based broadband service to a mix of 39,000 homes, businesses and anchor institutions just north of San Antonio.

For more:
- see the release

Related articles:
AT&T gets green light to bring 1 Gig fiber-based broadband service to Nashville
AT&T moves ahead with 1 Gig plans for Dallas, Fort Worth market
AT&T puts Cary, N.C., on its FTTP deployment map
Chapel Hill, N.C., becomes latest AT&T 1 gig market