AT&T taking on Google Fiber in Austin TX with 1GB network Announcement

Well this is certainly a fun bit of information. Yesterday we announced that Google would be bringing Google Fiber to Austin Texas residents. The planned time frame is Mid-2014. That leaves you plenty of time to research, watch, drool and wish you had the remote from Adam Sandlers “Click’ movie. Now AT&T has put out a release stating that they have plans to bring a fiber-optic connection to Austin as well that will have speeds up to 1GB per second as well. Sadly they don’t mention a timeline for deployment. In the press release they do mention that “This expanded investment is not expected to materially alter AT&T’s anticipated 2013 capital expenditures.” Meaning that it is likely they could have something in place before the year ends. That is strictly a hypothesis though.

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) said today that it is pleased to see local communities and municipalities acknowledging the promise and power of economic development associated with telecommunications investment.

“Most encouraging is the recognition by government officials that policies which eliminate unnecessary regulation, lower costs and speed infrastructure deployment, can be a meaningful catalyst to additional investment in advanced networks which drives employment and economic growth,” said Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO.

Today, AT&T announced that in conjunction with its previously announced Project VIP expansion of broadband access, it is prepared to build an advanced fiber optic infrastructure in Austin, Texas, capable of delivering speeds up to 1 gigabit per second. AT&T’s expanded fiber plans in Austin anticipate it will be granted the same terms and conditions as Google on issues such as geographic scope of offerings, rights of way, permitting, state licenses and any investment incentives. This expanded investment is not expected to materially alter AT&T’s anticipated 2013 capital expenditures.

AT&T consistently invests in U.S. communities — $98 billion in capital in the past five years, more than any other public company — and remains committed to working with any metropolitan community to reach agreement on incentives to improve the climate and speed of overall telecommunications infrastructure investment – facilitating both wired and wireless broadband access. Our potential capital investment will depend on the extent we can reach satisfactory agreements.

Who do you think will win the citizens of Austin over? Will AT&T take the helm, or will Google Fiber with its very attractive free offering keep AT&T as a sideline provider?

Source: 9to5Google