Friday, 7 March 2008

AT&T To Invest $1 Billion Globally in ‘08

Communications holding company AT&T revealed its global growth strategy Thursday, stating that it has decided to invest 1 billion in 2008 to continue the expansion of its network and portfolio of solutions for multinational companies with operations and applications in key markets worldwide.

The intended 1 billion is said to be 33% more than last year’s enterprise investment and double that of AT&T’s investment in 2006.
According to the US based communications giant, it has upped its investment budget to meet demands being driven for Internet Protocol (IP) networks and services as companies deal with an explosive surge in data, voice and video traffic-- a direct result of the proliferation of high speed networks and devices worldwide.

AT&T said it is responding to this demand by accelerating its efforts in three key areas. Firstly, it will aim to extend its global network reach and capacity, secondly it will work towards globalizing its portfolio of business services and lastly it plans embed the latest utility computing and other technologies in the network so that companies can deliver real-time applications to their customers, suppliers and partners.

Some of its investment plans include setting up a new subsea fiber optic cable capacity to Japan and Asia, increasing diversity and reliability on these critical routes, adding new network-to-network connections to extend network reach into high growth markets in Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe and South America and also offering global IP-based audio-conferencing services with in-country dial-in access from more than 140 countries, with in-language support.

“Companies worldwide are responding to the exploding need to deliver voice, data and video in real time to their end-users, no matter where they are, no matter what the device,” said Ron Spears, group president, AT&T Global Business Services.

“It is vital that we continue to invest in those geographies and services to meet this demand so our customers can connect their operations, partners and suppliers.”

AT&T said that it will continue to capitalize on the ongoing shift in network traffic from voice to data — and more important to IP-based data — as customers migrate from legacy packet networks to MPLS-based VPNs and managed applications.