AT&T lit up its fiber-to-the-premises offering, dubbed AT&T Fiber, in another dozen markets, the company announced today. The AT&T Fiber expansion includes parts of Amarillo, Texas; Beaumont, Texas; Bowling Green, Ky.; Florence, S.C.; Gainesville, Fla.; Hattiesburg, Miss.; Lake Charles, La.; Northeast Miss.; Panama City, Fla.; Pensacola, Fla.; Topeka, Kan.; and Waco, Texas. The company claims to be the largest provider of fiber across the 21 states where it offers home internet service.

The company said it added over 3 million fiber locations in 2018 and now has more than 10 million fiber locations across 84 metros nationwide. The company hopes to reach at least 14 million locations by mid-2019.

AT&T Fiber Expansion

The company now has fiber to more than 2 million business customer locations – with another 6 million locations within 1000 feet of fiber.

In a prepared release, the company said that mobile 5G success will rely on a quality fiber connection to the wireless towers or small cells, which then translate the fiber connection into an ultra-fast wireless signal for customers.

Under the AT&T plans, eligible broadband customers can choose from a range of internet speed plans.

AT&T’s undertaking has expanded the quick acceleration of the availability of fiber that we reported earlier this week.

New research conducted for the Fiber Broadband Association by research firm RVA, LLC found 18.4 million U.S. fiber broadband homes as of September 2018, up from approximately 15 million a year earlier. Service providers made broadband available to a record-breaking 5.9 million new homes in the year ending September 2018, RVA said.

Service providers now market fiber broadband to 39.2 million U.S. homes, including 1.6 million homes that can get fiber broadband from two or more providers, according to the research.