Billion Dollar Boost for AT&T
Earlier this week AT&T announced plans to add 3,000 jobs in 2009, investing $17 - $18 billion this year, with two-thirds of those funds dedicated to expanding wireless and broadband networks.
The focus of this expansion comes as no surprise. Between President Obama’s recent $8 billion broadband pledge and the ever increasing demand for 3G services (can you say iPhone?), AT&T has focused their resources in what they can only hope will be industry sweet spots during the economic downturn.
So what will $18 billion buy you? AT&T will use the funds to expand the 3G network to 20 new markets while adding more than 2,100 cell sites across the United States and using additional spectrum on the 850MHz band, nearly doubling its total 3G network capacity.
Before sinking billions of dollars into the build out, however, AT&T (and its funding organizations) will need to ensure that such a massive expenditure is effectively and efficiently planned for maximum coverage, revenue and network sustainability. Sure it’s great to spend money and we all support job creation, but as the recession continues, it becomes more important than ever for carriers to anticipate demand and design their networks to be lean and mean as they meet that demand.
