T AT&T Inc

CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 25, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- At AT&T¹, we've invested more than $1.65 billion in our North Carolina wireless and wired networks during 2013 -2015. These investments drive a wide range of upgrades to reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for residents and businesses. They also enhance critical services that support public safety and first responders.

Across the state, we invested:

• Nearly $225 million in Raleigh/Cary
• More than $90 million in Durham/Chapel Hill
• More than $275 million in the Charlotte region (Charlotte and Gastonia);
• More than $120 million in Greensboro/High Point; and
• More than $60 million in Winston-Salem

"We're committed to providing our customers fast, reliable, highly secure connectivity. We want them to be able to access the Internet at any moment, from almost any device and anywhere," said Venessa Harrison, president of AT&T North Carolina. "Our continued investment in North Carolina brings a host of new, innovative opportunities for residents and businesses."

In 2015, a major network initiative was launching AT&T GigaPower^SM service in North Carolina cities, including Charlotte, Durham and Greensboro.

U-verse with AT&T GigaPower also is available in parts of Apex, Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Clemmons, Garner, Gastonia, Holly Springs, Huntersville, Morrisville, Raleigh, Salisbury, Winston-Salem and surrounding communities.

AT&T GigaPower offers our fastest Internet speeds, up to 1Gbps² over a 100% fiber network to more than 1.6 million locations across 22 major metro areas.  We've announced plans to expand the availability of Internet speeds up to 1Gbps to homes, apartments and small businesses in parts of 34 additional cities across the U.S., including Asheville – which will total at least 56 metros served.

We plan to continue to roll out our fastest Internet services over a 100% fiber network to reach more than 14 million additional residential and commercial locations.

The AT&T LTE network covers 365 million people in North America. In 2015, we enhanced our wireless network across North Carolina by:   

• Upgrading more than 115 cell sites LTE,
• Adding LTE network capacity to nearly 325 cell sites, and
• Building 5 new cell sites.

Looking ahead, we have big plans for 2016. We'll be giving you the ability to access and stream DIRECTV video services over a wired or wireless Internet connection from any provider and from virtually any device – smartphone, tablet, Smart TV, streaming media hardware or PC. We plan for each service to come with a set number of simultaneous sessions. These services will not require annual contracts, satellite dishes or set-top boxes.

We have an extensive Wi-Fi network with more than 40,000 AT&T Wi-Fi Hot Spots at popular restaurants, hotels, bookstores and retailers. We provide access to Wi-Fi at more than 1 million Hot Spots around the world. Most AT&T smartphone and home Internet customers get access to our entire national Wi-Fi network at no additional cost. Wi-Fi usage doesn't count towards customers' monthly wireless data plans.³

In 2016, for the second year in a row, FORTUNE magazine recognized AT&T as the Most Admired Telecommunications Company in the world. We also placed #48 among the Top 50 World's Most Admired companies. This is our third year in a row on the Top 50 list – AT&T is the only communications company on the list. We ranked #1 in all 9 attributes. This included innovation, financial soundness and quality of products/services. FORTUNE's Most Admired Companies lists are among the most highly respected indicators of corporate performance and reputation.

To learn more about our coverage in North Carolina, or anywhere in the U.S., visit the AT&T Coverage Viewer. For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please visit the AT&T network news page.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release contains financial estimates and other forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. A discussion of factors that may affect future results is contained in AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any obligation to update or revise statements contained in this news release based on new information or otherwise.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions around the globe connect with leading entertainment, mobile, high speed Internet and voice services. We're the world's largest provider of pay TV. We have TV customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin American countries. We offer the best global coverage of any U.S. wireless provider.* And we help businesses worldwide serve their customers better with our mobility and highly secure cloud solutions.

Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at http://about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att.

© 2016 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

*Global coverage claim based on offering discounted voice and data roaming; LTE roaming; voice roaming; and world-capable smartphone and tablets in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier. International service required.  Coverage not available in all areas. Coverage may vary per country and be limited/restricted in some countries.

¹ AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.
² Internet speed claims represent maximum network service capability speeds. Actual customer speeds may vary based on factors including site traffic, content provider server capacity, internal network management factors, and device capabilities and are not guaranteed. For more information, go to att.com/speed101.
³ A Wi-Fi enabled device required.  Other restrictions apply.  See attwifi.com for details and locations.

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.