AT&T Invests More Than $5 Billion Over 3-Year Period to Enhance Local Networks in Georgia

ATLANTA, May 25, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At AT&T¹, we invested more than $5 billion in our Georgia wireless and wired networks from 2014-2016. These investments drive a wide range of upgrades to reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for residents and businesses.

"In our increasingly connected world, this type of sustained and significant investment from the private sector is vital to ensuring that Georgia's businesses and residents enjoy the connectivity they need," said Governor Nathan Deal. "Investments like AT&Ts help keep Georgia at the forefront of the technology sector and are critical for us to continue to be the best state in the nation in which to do business. I look forward to working with the General Assembly to ensure that Georgia continues to welcome investments that will enhance our state's future."

The men and women of AT&T have turned these investments into connections that spur Georgia's economy. With more than 3.6 million strand miles of fiber-optics across the state, AT&T delivers ultra-fast internet powered by AT&T Fiber to more than 500,000 residential locations, provides more than 60,000 business locations with access to our fiber-optic network, and connects residents all across Georgia to our high-speed wireless networks that are being continually updated and enhanced – completing approximately 1,500 enhancements to our wireless network in 2016 alone.

In addition, these investments have laid the foundation for our deployment of fixed-wireless internet across rural Georgia – bringing high-speed connectivity to many underserved or unserved areas of the state.

"Gov. Deal and legislative leaders have worked hard to create an environment that welcomes investment and innovation, and the significant investments AT&T is making, combined with the presence of more than 19,000 AT&T employees who call Georgia home, is evidence that the decisions being made by our elected leaders are strengthening Georgia's economy," said Bill Leahy, president of AT&T Georgia.

"The policies pursued and adopted by Governor Deal and other state leaders and by municipal leaders across the state have welcomed these kind of investments," said Chris Clark, President & CEO, Georgia Chamber of Commerce. "But we must remember that the industry is rapidly changing, and we must continue to remove barriers to infrastructure deployment – to pave the way for small cell deployment and a 5G world – in order to ensure that businesses enjoy the type connectivity they need to besuccessful."

For the third year in a row, FORTUNE magazine recognized AT&T as the Most Admired Telecommunications Company in the world in 2017. We also No. 37 among the Top 50 World's Most Admired companies.

AT&T is the only communications company on the list. We ranked No. 1 in all 9 attributes. This included innovation, financial soundness and quality of products/services.

We continue to expand the scope of our ultra-fast internet powered by AT&T Fiber. Since we announced plans for the service 4 years ago, no single provider has connected more homes, apartments and small businesses over a 100% fiber network.

We have the largest fiber network within our 21-state wireline footprint. We also now market a 1 gigabit connection on our 100% fiber connection to 4.6 million locations across 52 major metros areas. We'll plan to reach at least 75 major metros overall. We expect to add 2 million locations in 2017, and we plan to reach at least 12.5 million locations by mid-2019.

We have an extensive Wi-Fi network with more than 40,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots at popular restaurants, hotels, bookstores and retailers. We provide access to Wi-Fi at more than 1 million Hot Spots around the world. Most AT&T smartphone and home Internet customers get access to our national Wi-Fi network at no added cost. Wi-Fi usage doesn't count towards customers' monthly wireless data plans.²

To learn more about our coverage in Georgia, or anywhere in the U.S., visit the AT&T Coverage Viewer. For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please visit the AT&T network news page.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release contains financial estimates and other forward- looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. A discussion of factors that may affect future results is contained in AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any obligation to update or revise statements contained in this news release based on new information or otherwise.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions around the globe connect with leading entertainment, business, mobile and high speed internet services. We offer the nation's best data network* and the best global coverage of any U.S. wireless provider.** We're one of the world's largest providers of pay TV. We have TV customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin American countries. Nearly 3.5 million companies, from small to large businesses around the globe, turn to AT&T for our highly secure smart solutions. 

Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at facebook.com/att and YouTube at youtube.com/att.

© 2017 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

*Claim based on the Nielsen Certified Data Network Score. Score includes data reported by wireless consumers in the Nielsen Mobile Insights survey, network measurements from Nielsen Mobile Performance and Nielsen Drive Test Benchmarks for Q3+Q4 2016 across 121 markets.

**Global coverage claim based on offering discounted voice and data roaming; LTE roaming; and voice roaming in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier. International service required. Coverage not available in all areas. Coverage may vary per country and be limited/restricted in some countries.

¹ AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
² A Wi-Fi enabled device required.  Other restrictions apply.  See attwifi.com for details and locations.

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.

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