SOUTH BEND, Ind., Oct. 10, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- At AT&T*, we've invested nearly $50 million in our South Bend area wireless and wired networks during 2015-2017. These investments boost reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for residents and businesses. They also improve critical services that support public safety and first responders.

In 2017, AT&T made numerous wireless network upgrades in the South Bend area.

"Sustained investment by the private sector is key to attracting new jobs and innovation," said State Sen. Mike Bohacek. "AT&T's longtime commitment to this community helps make business growth possible and assures that our citizens and visitors have the tools they need to stay connected and entertained."

"Whether it's police officers or teachers, doctors or farmers, we all want the very latest in connectivity," said State Rep. Dale DeVon. "Investment like this by AT&T ensures that the South Bend area remains on the cutting edge, and it's certainly welcomed."  

"Our customers expect to have access at any moment, from almost any device – almost anywhere," said Bill Soards, president of AT&T Indiana. "And we're investing heavily to deliver faster, more reliable, highly secure connectivity in order to meet - and exceed - those expectations for South Bend area residents."

The AT&T LTE network now covers more than 400 million people in North America. By building out our 4G LTE network, we're laying the foundation for 5G, the next advance in network technologies. We're boosting network speeds and capacity, as we continue to expand the availability of our network using the latest technology.

Since the formation of the FirstNet public-private partnership a little over a year ago, governors from all 50 states, 5 territories and D.C. recognized the value of FirstNet, joining in its mission to strengthen and modernize public safety's communications capabilities.

FirstNet is a new nationwide communications platform dedicated to America's public safety community. As we build, deploy and evolve FirstNet, we will build upon our current and planned investments in Indiana to help ensure public safety's network delivers the coverage and cutting-edge capabilities first responders expect – today and for decades to come.

For the 4^th year in a row, AT&T earned the top spot in the telecommunications industry on FORTUNE's Most Admired Companies list in 2018. We also placed No. 49 among the 50 most admired companies across all industries.

We were ranked first or second in all 9 attributes used to compile the list, including innovation, people management, quality of management, long-term investment value, quality of products/services and global competitiveness.

Our internet offerings
We continue to expand the scope of our ultra-fast internet powered by AT&T Fiber. We now market our ultra-fast internet service powered by AT&T in the South Bend area.

We have the largest fiber network within our 21-state wireline footprint.¹ And AT&T is the largest U.S.-based provider of fiber for business services, creating an unparalleled ability to serve businesses of all sizes.

We also now market a 1 gigabit connection² on our 100% fiber network to 9 million locations across 71 major metro areas.  We plan to reach at least 14 million locations across at least 84 metro areas by mid-2019 for consumers.

To learn more about our coverage in South Bend or anywhere in the U.S., go to the AT&T Coverage Viewer. For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please go to the AT&T network news page.

¹ Based on publicly available data for the top fiber providers in the AT&T operating footprint.
² Actual customer speeds may vary. Download speeds are typically up to 940Mbps due to overhead capacity reserved to deliver the data.
³ Wi-Fi enabled device required. Other restrictions apply. See www.attwifi.com for details and locations

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release contains financial estimates and other forward- looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. A discussion of factors that may affect future results is contained in AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any obligation to update or revise statements contained in this news release based on new information or otherwise.

*About AT&T Communications
We help family, friends and neighbors connect in meaningful ways every day. From the first phone call 140+ years ago to mobile video streaming, we innovate to improve lives. We have the best network according to America's biggest test.** We're building FirstNet just for first responders and creating next-generation mobile 5G. With DIRECTV and DIRECTV NOW, we deliver entertainment people love to talk about. Our smart, highly secure solutions serve over 3 million global businesses – nearly all of the Fortune 1000. And worldwide, our spirit of service drives employees to give back to their communities.

AT&T Communications is part of AT&T Inc. T. Learn more at att.com/CommunicationsNews.

AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at facebook.com/att and on YouTube at youtube.com/att.

© 2018 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

**Based on GWS OneScore Sept. 2018. Excludes crowd sourced studies.

To define a market, we rely on the Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSA), as established by the United States Office of Management and Budget.  Minor differences, if any, between annual totals reflect annual updating of market boundaries in our record systems.

From FORTUNE Magazine. 2018 Time Inc. FORTUNE© and The World's Most Admired Companies® are registered trademarks of Time Inc. and are used under License. FORTUNE and Time Inc. are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of, AT&T.

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.