AT&T Canada will be expanding its local telephone networks into additional cities across the country, the company recently announced.
Five new city networks will be added, and will be interconnected to all of AT&T Canada’s other local networks that are under development or already up and running. The new networks will also be interconnected with the company’s broadband intercity fibre-optic network.
With a total of 17 other networks in service, all of the AT&T Canada networks will offer long-distance, local dial-tone, Internet access and as a suite of data networking services.
AT&T Canada, which merged with MetroNet Communications earlier this year, anticipates its combined capital-spending program to reach approximately $700 million for the year, according to a recent press release. These expenditures include: the recently announced expansion of the company’s local network deployment plans to include 22 cities; the completion and deployment of its country-wide broadband intercity and cross-border fibre-optic network; as well an increase in central office co-location sites to increase the reach of the network. Also included is the on-going deployment of DSL facilities into the company’s present and future co-location sites.
In a recent press release, Craig Young, AT&T Canada’s vice-chairman and president, indicated that the upcoming expansion will put the company in a unique position.
“Of the rapidly growing $12 billion business telecommunications market in Canada, our integrated and expanded networks will position us to address more than 95 per cent of the long-distance opportunity, nearly 90 per cent of the data and Internet opportunity, and 70 per cent of the local service opportunity,” Young said. “And we will be able to directly serve more than 90 per cent of the corporate office headquarters business access lines — with our own state-of-the-art facilities.”