AT&T's Project VIP brings U-Verse service to McAllen and Mission, Texas

AT&T (NYSE: T) is bringing its U-verse TV and broadband service to McAllen and Mission, Texas, as part of its ongoing Project Velocity IP (VIP) effort to enhance its IP-based wireline networks.

Customers in these two markets also will be able to get access to the telco's latest 45/6 Mbps speed tier.

McAllen and Mission may be the latest targets for U-verse, but they won't be the last. The telco said that it plans to roll out the service to other Rio Grande Valley cities in the state over the next few months but did not specify any specific cities.

Enhancing the rates and reach of U-verse has been a major priority for AT&T. Through the $14 billion Project VIP program, AT&T will upgrade U-verse broadband speeds over its existing copper/fiber FTTN-based architecture to 100 Mbps.

In the near-term, the service provider has been busy rolling out a 45/6 Mbps tier in many of its markets where it has built out U-verse. Initially offered in California and Nevada, AT&T extended the service to an additional 40 markets in 2013.

Texas is not the only state where AT&T is seeing U-verse growth.

In the Kansas City area, it reported that 100,000 customers now subscribe to AT&T U-verse TV service. To accommodate growth in the city, it will hire an additional 70 U-verse premise technicians.

While AT&T won't announce its Q4 2013 earnings until Jan. 28, U-verse continues to be a major revenue driver for the service provider. In Q3 2013, U-verse revenues rose 28.1 percent to $3.1 billion and it topped the 10 million subscriber mark.

For more:
- see the Texas release
- and the Kansas City release

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AT&T U-verse revenues rise 28 percent to $3.1B, subscribers top 10 million
AT&T to roll out Austin 1 Gbps FTTH service in mid-2014, but pricing not revealed
AT&T's Stephenson: We'll equip other markets with FTTH

Updated article on Jan. 24 with information about Kansas City market growth.