AT&T still isn't planning to roll out fiber-to-the-home
in any broad way, as Verizon Communications has.
As part of a three-year, $14 billion capital investment
plan, AT&T said it will widen its fiber-based U-verse network by more than
one-third -- or about 8.5 million additional customer locations, for a total
potential of 33 million homes -- by the end of 2015, while boosting downstream
Internet speeds to up to 75 Mbps.
The telco outlined the plan, dubbed Project Velocity IP
(VIP), Wednesday at its annual investor day in New York. Project VIP includes
efforts to expand and enhance both its wireless and wireline IP broadband
networks.
AT&T expects capital spending to be approximately $22
billion for each of the next three years, then return to pre-Project VIP levels.
The telco said it will increase capital spending to the "high end of the
mid-teens" as a percentage of revenue in the next two years, returning to
previous levels in 2015. The company last
month said it anticipates capex for 2012 to come in at "the low
end" of the $19 billion to $20 billion range.
