(Reuters) – AT&T said on Monday it had struck a $1 billion multi-year deal with Corning to buy fiber, cable, and connectivity solutions, as the U.S. telecom giant looks to expand its high-speed internet services.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
With the U.S. wireless market facing a slowdown, telecom companies such as AT&T and rival Verizon have doubled down on their high-speed internet businesses, an area that has long been dominated by broadband companies such as Comcast.
Demand has also been growing for AT&T’s plans that allow customers to combine its high-speed fiber data with its wireless phone service for a discount.
The company expects the deal with Corning to boost its network expansion and enhance performance while minimizing deployment costs.
In the third quarter, AT&T reported 28.3 million fiber passings, or the number of potential customer locations a fiber network passes by. It remains on track to pass more than 30 million fiber passings by the end of 2025.
CONTEXT
AT&T’s fiber business added 226,000 customers in the third quarter, falling short of expectations for 257,860 additions, according to Visible Alpha.
This was primarily due to a work stoppage that began in August in its southeast region and impacted fiber installations.
(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
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