Staff Reports
AT&T is celebrating a major milestone this year — more than $3 billion invested in Florida wireless and wired networks since 2015.
Improvements made by the global telecommunications giant include a boost to reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for both residential and business consumers. Also, upgrades have helped improve critical services for public safety and first responders, where reliable communications in an emergency are the difference between life and death.
Because of legislation passed by state lawmakers and signed by Gov. Rick Scott in 2017, AT&T Florida President Joe York said the company will continue its extensive commitment to the Sunshine State in the future, bringing even more innovation to its customers.
“Governor Scott has signed legislation that encourages companies to invest more in wireless infrastructure,” York said. “We’re now speeding our wireless build-out plans in Florida with tens of millions of dollars dedicated to improving its mobile network.
“This investment will also pave the path to 5G mobile services in the years ahead.”
In 2017, AT&T’s dedication to Florida included 3,700 wireless network upgrades, and extra capacity added to more than 3,500 cell sites to increase data speeds and network performance. Twenty-one new cell sites were added statewide: Bunnell, Celebration, Chipley, Clarksville, Deltona, Florida City, Fort Walton, Fort White, Gotha, Jacksonville, Lakeland, Marathon Key, Nocatee, Orlando, Perry, Ponte Vedra, and Wewahitchka
Florida sports fans also saw big gains as new Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) were set up at Daytona International Speedway, Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, and at FAU Stadium in Boca Raton, allowing them to enjoy more dependable connections and faster speeds.
In addition, a new DAS at Florida International University in Miami that is boosting indoor coverage in nine campus buildings.
According to Stephen Trickey, executive VP and COO of Associated Industries of Florida, AT&T’s sustained investment — along with other members of the private sector — is “crucial” to the mission of building a state-of-the-art infrastructure to make “business growth possible and assuring that our residents have the tools to stay connected and entertained.”
The AT&T LTE network now serves more than 400 million people in North America and nearly 3.5 million companies of all sizes around the world. By augmenting its 4G LTE network, the company is laying the foundation for 5G, the next advance in network technologies.
As a part of the FirstNet — the new nationwide communications platform dedicated to the country’s public safety community — AT&T’s goal is to strengthen and modernize public safety communications capabilities in Florida and nationwide. Last year, governors from all 50 states, five territories, and D.C. entered the public-private partnership to provide coverage and innovative capabilities for first responders — today and for decades to come.
In 2018, for the 4th year in a row, AT&T earned a top spot in FORTUNE’s Most Admired Companies list for telecommunications providers, placing No. 49 among the 50 most admired companies overall.
