AT&T rural broadband expansion via CAF funded fixed wireless service now reaches 160K locations across 18 states. Nine states were recently added, AT&T announced today. The expansion nearly doubles the reach since AT&T’s last update on the service in June of this year.
AT&T’s fixed wireless service provides a 10 Mbps up and 1 Mbps down service using licensed WCS (Band 30) 2.3 GHz spectrum. The fixed wireless service has broadband usage caps of 160 GB per month, with additional 50 GB increments of data charged at $10 per month. The service is priced at $60 per month when bundled.
The additional 9 states include:
- Arkansas
- California
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Kansas
- Michigan
- Ohio
- Texas
- Wisconsin
They join Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, where this AT&T rural broadband service is already available in certain markets. AT&T has plans to reach 400,000 locations by the end of this year, and over 1.1 million locations by 2020. This AT&T rural broadband expansion is partially funded by the Connect America Fund (CAF), the FCC’s program to expand rural broadband access.
“Closing the connectivity gap is a top priority for us,” said Cheryl Choy, vice president, wired voice and internet products at AT&T in a press release announcing the expansion. “Access to fast and reliable internet is a game changer in today’s world.”
AT&T may gain some competition for this fixed wireless service, at least in Mississippi. C Spire just announced their intention to aggressively expand fixed wireless service in Mississippi this week. They cited the advantage their 25 Mbps fixed wireless service has over certain CAF funded 10 Mbps fixed wireless options, a specific reference to AT&T.
