AT&T increases fiber to the building count in multiple markets

May 2, 2014
AT&T says it has connected hundreds of multi-tenant buildings with fiber in five markets. Part of the service provider’s Project Velocity IP (VIP) program, the Fiber Ready Building initiative seeks to expand the small and medium business customers whom AT&T could offer security, network, and cloud-based services that require high-capacity connections.

AT&T says it has connected hundreds of multi-tenant buildings with fiber in five markets. Part of the service provider’s Project Velocity IP (VIP) program, the Fiber Ready Building initiative seeks to expand the small and medium business customers whom AT&T could offer security, network, and cloud-based services that require high-capacity connections.

The fiber to the building program targets buildings with six or more business tenants. The fiber-optic network connections enable the delivery of cloud, Virtual Private Network (VPN), voice over IP (VoIP), enhanced wireless, and Internet access at data rates as high as 40 Gbps (where available).

AT&T recently announced expanded fiber-fed building footprints in the following markets:

  • The Detroit metro area, where the service provider has connected an additional 251 multi-tenant office buildings, providing access to more than 5000 new business customer locations
  • Metro Indianapolis, with new connections to 208 buildings and more than 3500 customer locations
  • The Kansas City metro area, which has seen 304 office buildings connected, representing more than 3500 new business customer locations
  • Metro Miami, where AT&T says it has connected 1197 buildings and more than 34,000 additional potential business customers; overall in Florida, AT&T says it recently has added connections to 40,000 potential new clients
  • Buildings representing 2000 additional potential new customers in Wisconsin.

The additional connections follow an overall trend toward connecting multi-tenant office buildings with fiber. Market research firm Vertical Systems Group recently estimated that 39.3% of businesses in the United States with at least 20 employees had access to fiber-based services by the end of last year, an increase of 3% versus 2012.

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