AT&T rolls out ultrafast internet in Northwest Arkansas

AT&T, which announced a blockbuster $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner this weekend, on Monday (Oct. 24) launched ultra-fast, one gigabit internet service for Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale.

Company officials said the Northwest Arkansas area is one of 67 metros where the telecom giant is making its AT&T Fiber internet service available. The service is now available at 3 million locations, including more than 500,000 apartments and condo units. That total is expected to exceed the 12.5 million locations planned by mid-2019.

“Our customers are increasingly interacting with their world in more data-intensive ways,” said Ed Drilling, president of AT&T Arkansas. “A growing number of people are streaming content directly from their devices, and interacting with family and friends through live videos. For these reasons, we’re bringing our fastest internet speeds to Northwest Arkansas and its surrounding communities.”

Added Mike Malone, economic developer and former President/CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council: “Northwest Arkansas is home to some of our country’s most innovative companies and continues to develop as a tech hub. AT&T’s 100% fiber network will contribute to our growing economy and high quality of life in Northwest Arkansas. Access to high-speed internet will help create new jobs, grow small businesses and improve access to educational opportunities.”

AT&T first announced plans to roll out its ultra-fast broadband service in the Little Rock, Fort Smith and Northwest Arkansas metropolitan areas nearly a year ago. According to AT&T spokeswoman Anita Smith, the new service will provide internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second, which will allow AT&T users to almost instantly download online movies, music, games and more.

For example, customers will be able to download 25 online songs in less than a second, a TV show in three seconds or your favorite HD movie in less than 36 seconds, she said.

AT&T first launched its gigabit internet service in Austin, Texas, nearly three years ago. That led to a major expansion in multiple metros beginning in 2014, and AT&T said it expects to more than double availability by the end of 2016. Ultimately, the Dallas-based telecom and wireless giant said it hopes to provide the 100% fiber network to more than 14 million residential and commercial locations across the U.S.

AT&T’s announcement is part of the ongoing race to market between cable operators, internet providers, wireless firms, telecoms and a growing list of tech companies and niche players to satisfy the public’s growing quest for the fastest available gigabit-level internet connections, which are 100 times faster than the average internet speed today.

The former Ma Bell company’s deal with Time Warner illustrates how far major players like AT&T, Comcast and Verizon are willing to go to stay ahead of the competition in the race to deliver premium and direct-to-consumer content across TV, mobile and broadband platforms in the U.S.

The stock-and-cash deal announced on Saturday combines Time Warner’s vast library of content and ability to create new premium content that connects with audiences around the world, with AT&T’s extensive customer relationships, world’s largest pay TV subscriber base and leading scale in TV, mobile and broadband distribution.

“This is a perfect match of two companies with complementary strengths who can bring a fresh approach to how the media and communications industry works for customers, content creators, distributors and advertisers,” said AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. “Premium content always wins. It has been true on the big screen, the TV screen and now it’s proving true on the mobile screen. We’ll have the world’s best premium content with the networks to deliver it to every screen. A big customer pain point is paying for content once but not being able to access it on any device, anywhere. Our goal is to solve that. We intend to give customers unmatched choice, quality, value and experiences that will define the future of media and communications.

Smith said AT&T has invested more than $550 million in its wireless and wired networks in Arkansas between 2013 through 2015. The investments drive a wide range of upgrades to reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for residents and businesses.

Smith said AT&T is also working quickly to make faster internet speeds available to customers in parts of Little Rock.

“We expect we’ll share more [information] closer to when we launch in the coming months,” she said.