Page 38 - SAMENA Trends - May-June 2022

REGIONAL & MEMBERS UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

AT&T Hits Industry-First 20 Gigabits Per Second

Symmetrical Speed on Production Fiber Network

Today, the internet powers nearly every
facet of human and machine interaction.
From augmented reality and virtual
reality applications and cloud gaming; to
connected cars and smart cities; to the
video conferencing tools that connected
us all through the pandemic – those
increasingly sophisticated apps and
services require connectivity that advances
just as quickly. We are laser-focused on
making AT&T the best broadband provider
in America, pushing the envelope of faster
speeds, greater capacity, lower latency,
and increased reliability and reach. While
we’ve racked up plenty of accolades over
the last few years for both our fiber internet
product and our fiber-powered 5G wireless
network, no one is resting on their laurels.
We’re all about building for what’s next.
We are the Fastest Major Internet provider
offering Hyper-Gig, symmetric speeds of up
to 5 Gbps to consumers and businesses1.
Earlier this year, we announced that we
have achieved up to 10 Gbps broadband
in our Labs. Now, AT&T has reached 20
Gbps symmetric speeds in our production
network, the first operator in the world to
achieve this milestone.
Why are symmetric speeds so important?
Consumers and businesses are
increasingly both content consumers and
creators. We are uploading and sending
videos and other massive files. For
example, if you’re an online gamer, you are
exchanging tons of data with other players “passive” minimizes the need for active and deploying new XGS-PON technology
in real-time, perhaps teaming up with your electronics in our outside plant facilities, in line with our plan to hit 30 million
friends in VR or livestreaming your exploits which means lower maintenance costs and households and businesses connected
to millions of fans. For businesses, sharing much higher reliability than legacy copper with fiber by 2025. With XGS-PON, we
video and VR streams across the network twisted pair or coaxial cabling. AT&T used increased our network fiber capacity by 4x
enables near-real-time data analytics, GPON technology to become one of the in the downstream and 8x in the upstream
metaverse communities, increased worker first companies to offer symmetrical 1 at roughly the same economics as our
safety, robotic manufacturing, and more. Gbps internet service to businesses and prior GPON investment. AT&T was an
The internet isn’t just a two-way street. It’s consumers, in the form of our AT&T Fiber early adopter of XGS-PON with the largest
a two-way mega highway. service. Whether it was customers sharing deployment in North America. We had our
Journey to Hyper-gig videos with friends or helping small and first trial in North Carolina in late 2021,
AT&T began deploying fiber to homes medium businesses connect franchises or with a wider, Hyper-Gig speeds customer
and businesses around 2010. Built on branch offices across regions, this service launch in 2022 featuring industry-leading
Gigabit Passive Optical Networking was a huge stride forward in making 2Gbps and 5Gbps symmetrical broadband
(GPON) technology, that initial service gave uploads as seamless as downloads. Ten services.
customers shared capacity of 2.5 Gbps years later, in 2020, AT&T began testing
downstream and 1.25 Gbps upstream. Being

38 MAY-JUNE 2022