AT&T brings fiber to 45K locations in Kansas, Missouri, adding 76K miles to national network

AT&T (NYSE: T) continues to find more locations in its wireline network to offer fiber-to-the-business (FTTB) services, and its recent expansions in Kansas and Missouri reflect that trend.

By completing these builds, AT&T expanded its total U.S. fiber network by an additional 76,000 route miles, bringing the total to nearly 500,000 -- two factors that helped it reach its goal of connecting 1 million new business locations.

In Kansas, a market where AT&T is facing strong competition from a mix of Tier 2 providers like Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), cable operators and Google Fiber (NASDAQ: GOOG), the telco has added 17,163 additional customer locations to its fiber network since 2012, when the company began an aggressive fiber expansion program via its Project VIP initiative.

The company was no less aggressive in Missouri, adding 28,450 additional business customer locations to its fiber network. 

Whether it gets the higher speed services, which range from 25 Mbps up to 10 Gbps via its GigaPower or Business Fiber products, customers who reside in these buildings can complement their high-speed Internet with network security options and online backup.

Matt Beattie, executive director of product marketing for FTTB at AT&T, told FierceTelecom in a previous interview that cities can attract fiber providers by making it more favorable to build in their communities.

"As municipalities make it easier for carriers to build out then you'll continue to see AT&T and other companies continue to deploy in more and more places," Beattie said.

For more:
- see the Kansas release
- and the Missouri release

Related articles:
AT&T simplifies PON, Ethernet installation processes, sees communities' FTTB demand growing
AT&T's Project VIP buoys its FTTB reach with 1M business locations added
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