AT&T plans to expand its GigaPower fiber network to an additional 100 cities and municipalities nationwide, the company said.
Cities include Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco.
Faster internet in the US
The fiber network will deliver dramatically improved broadband speeds up to 1 GB per second, which would enable consumers to download an HD online movie in less than 36 seconds, download 25 songs in one second, and download TV shows in less than three seconds, the company said in a statement.
AT&T is promoting the fiber internet service to small businesses, claiming the service will enable them to more quickly and efficiently upload, download and share large data files and images, back up data remotely in the cloud at one or multiple locations, and video conference with suppliers, business partners and customers.
Previous rollouts
AT&T previously announced plans to bring its fiber network to Austin, Dallas, Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem. The service has been available to some homes in Austin since December, and is expected to roll out in Dallas this summer, the company said.
The full list of 21 major metropolitan areas where the fiber network will be installed is: Atlanta, Augusta, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Fort Worth, Fort Lauderdale, Greensboro, Houston, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, Oakland, Orlando, San Antonio, San Diego, St. Louis, San Francisco, and San Jose.
AT&T will work with each of these communities to determine if and when the rollouts will take place.
The race against Google
In February, Google announced its decision to attempt to roll out fiber internet to 34 cities in nine metropolitan areas in the US, including Phoenix, San Jose, Austin and Salt Lake City. Google began the Austin rollout process this month and the process is expected to be complete for parts of Austin by mid-2014.
