In a press release issued today, AT&T announced that it would invest around $1 billion to “to scale its delivery of applications, mobility and cloud services for global companies, to expand small business services within the United States and to continue extending its network globally.”
The plan is no surprise to those that have been following AT&T since 2006. This new investment will raise the total amount invested over a four year period to over $4 billion. The most notable change will be a significant broadband speed increase thanks in part to better utilization of existing copper phone lines used in DSL, as well as the laying of new fiber optic cables around the world. A new internet data center in London will also be built to go along with the expanding centers in Ashburn, VA and Piscatawny, NJ.
AT&T also plans to expand its wireless networks, which will come as a relief to iPhone users who have long criticized the service provider for connection speed woes (slightly unfairly it seems). The company also intends to further invest in next generation broadband capabilities, called Long Term Evolution, which would be a step toward a 4G network.
The press release also indicates plans to further involve themselves in “cloud services”, which would allow businesses to have AT&T host many of their software applications off site and be called on through an on-demand style utility. The investment continues to signal the shift from a voice to a video and data based global economy.
