AT&T Also Announces A 1 Gig Broadband Network for Austin

And not to be outdone by Google in its backyard, AT&T on Tuesday also announced plans to deliver a 1 Gigabit broadband network to Austin.
“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,” Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and CEO, said in a news release.
AT&T already announced plans to expand its broadband access and now reports “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,” according to the news release.
On Tuesday, Google held a press conference at Brazos Hall downtown to announce its Google fiber will be coming to Austin. It’s only the second city in the country to receive the super fast broadband network, which is 100 times faster at uploading and downloading speeds than average Internet broadband services available to most consumers. Google plans to start working on the network immediately.
“First you’ll see our surveyors and engineers around town, working to put together a good construction plan,” according to its news release. “Then construction will actually start.”
Google’s fiber service is expected to be available in Austin homes beginning in mid-2014.