AT&T reaffirms commitment to expand fiber network in Triangle, other markets

AT&T is not planning to scale back the expansion of its high-speed fiber network in the Triangle and 24 other metro areas, the company said in a letter sent this week to the Federal Communications Commission.

Doubts about the company’s willingness to go through with the expansion emerged after AT&T officials expressed concern over how President Barack Obama’s net neutrality proposal would alter the economics of such investments.

Obama called on the FCC to regulate Internet providers more strongly and treat broadband much as it would any other public utility. He said the FCC should prohibit Internet providers such as Verizon and AT&T from charging large data users such as Netflix extra to move their content more quickly.

“AT&T still plans to complete the major initiative we announced in April to expand our ultra-fast GigaPower fiber network to 25 major metropolitan areas nationwide, including 21 new major metropolitan areas,” the company wrote in the letter dated Nov. 25.

GigaPower offers download and upload speeds of up to 1-gigabit-per-second. It is offered with AT&T’s U-verse TV service.

In its letter, AT&T did acknowledge that Obama’s proposal injects “significant uncertainty into the economics underlying our investment decisions,” and said that it is prudent to pause to consider whether further investments beyond the ones announced earlier this year might be feasible.

AT&T announced earlier this year that it would expand GigaPower to eight Triangle municipalities: Apex, Garner, Morrisville, Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Cary and Durham.

AT&T is the first Internet provider to reach an agreement with the N.C. Next Generation Network, a consortium of municipalities and several local universities that has been negotiating separately with eight private companies to build a gigabit network, in part by using existing fiber-optic lines, underground conduits and data centers.

AT&T’s agreement with the network is designed to provide assistance from participating municipalities and universities that will expedite the construction of a fiber-optic network. The participating municipalities have subsequently approved AT&T’s plan to bring GigaPower to those cities.

The Triangle could become one of the more competitive markets for broadband Internet service if various providers follow through on their proposed plans.

Google announced in February that the Triangle is one of nine areas where it is considering expanding its Google Fiber service. Google expects to decide by the end of the year which markets it will enter.

This story was originally published November 28, 2014 at 9:45 AM with the headline "AT&T reaffirms commitment to expand fiber network in Triangle, other markets."