AT&T announced plans to expand the reach of its fiber optic joint venture with private equity firm BlackRock Alternatives beyond the initial 1.5 million locations announced in late 2022 and also unveiled four new agreements with commercial open access providers.
The operator said the Gigapower expansion could include both growth in existing regions and new locations. AT&T executives initially pitched the joint venture as a way to compete outside its traditional 21-state service area.
While competitors Verizon and T-Mobile US both recently announced agreements to expand their fiber optic holdings, AT&T claims to be the largest provider in the US measured by the number of households with fiber optic connections to the home.
The company serves more than 8.8 million AT&T Fiber customers and reaches more than 28 million residential and business locations.
John Stankey, CEO of AT&T, is a big proponent of converged mobile and fiber-based services.
To help AT&T Fibre reach more locations in regions not served by its network or Gigapower, the operator announced four new agreements with commercial open access providers: Boldyn Networks, Digital Infrastructure Group, PRIME FiBER and Ubiquity.
The company said these agreements will enable the company to offer fiber optic and 5G services to more customers in service areas where fiber optic options are not currently available.
