Page 30 - SAMENA ELITE - Jan-Mar 2024

INDUSTRY UPDATES
30 JAN-MAR 2024

AT&T Expands its FWA Service

AT&T has substantially expanded and Ada. “It doesn’t mean that we don’t think
the eligible service areas for its A&T - In New York: Buffalo and Syracuse. that fixed wireless serves some
Internet Air Fixed Wireless Access - Baltimore, MD segment of the market. It does,” he
(FWA) service, and now serves parts - Indianapolis, IN continued. “It serves certain types
of 59 markets, up from 35 at the end - Little Rock-Pine Bluff, AR of circumstances in the consumer
of the year. - Thomasville, GA base. It serves certain types of
circumstances in the business base.
The company announced an AT&T CEO John Stankey has And we will take advantage of those
additional 26 Internet Air markets this emphasized that while AT&T intends certain circumstances.”
week. Those markets include: to use FWA as a tool in specific
circumstances, that the carrier’s However, Stankey also said that AT&T
- In California: San Diego and Santa focus remains on 5G and fiber. would “lean into” serving such small
Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Speaking about AT&T Internet Air on businesses with FWA this year, and
Obispo. the company’s most recent quarterly also to some extent in the consumer
- In Texas: Austin, San Antonio, call, he said: “I don’t expect that we segment, depending on its spectrum
Corpus Christi, Laredo, Sherman, are going to be pushing the product profile in a given geographic market.
Victoria, Beaumont-Port Arthur and in the same way that some others He also pointed out that AT&T is using
Harlingen-Weslaco-Brownsville- in the market are pushing it today. Internet Air “very, very actively” as it
McAllen. We’ve made a conscious choice as a turns down its legacy copper network
- In Florida: Jacksonville, Tallahassee, company that we want to dedicate footprint, to offer an alternative
Panama City and Ft. Myers-Naples capital to investing in fiber, which we service so that customers remain with
and West Palm Beach-Fort Pierce. believe is a more sustainable, long- the company.
- In North Carolina: Charlotte and term means to deal with stationary
Raleigh-Durham. and fixed broadband needs. “We’ve already rolled out AT&T
- In Oklahoma: Oklahoma City, Tulsa Internet Air to existing copper-based
customers with great success,” wrote
Erin Scarborough, AT&T’s president
of broadband and connectivity
initiatives, in an updated blog post
on Internet Air. “As we begin to scale,
we are hyper-focused on selecting
locations with enough wireless
coverage and capacity to deliver not
only a great in-home experience, but
also maintain a top-notch wireless
service for our existing mobile users.”

AT&T reported having 93,000 FWA
customers as of the end of 2023.

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