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Note: It's amazing how shortsighted a 200 billion dollar corporatiom can be - but then again AT&T was once the largest cable TV company before selling it's broadband assets at a 50 billion dollar loss.

from: Reuters

AT&T sticks to copper and fiber in build-out plan
Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:44PM EDT

CHICAGO (Reuters) - AT&T Inc. (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it would stick to its cost-efficient strategy of using copper lines in addition to fiber as it expands its network for an advanced Web and video service.

Ernie Carey, vice president of AT&T's Advanced Network Technologies, also said it was focused on expanding the service, called U-Verse, which competes with cable providers' video, Internet and phone bundles, as quickly as possible.

While rival Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ.N: Quote, Profile, Research) boasts an all-fiber network called "fiber to the premises" (FTTP) for its Internet and video service, AT&T lays fiber to neighborhood nodes, from which copper lines extend to consumer homes.

Carey said its "fiber to the node" (FTTN) strategy was not only cheaper but also sufficient to deliver multiple high-definition channels and video-on-demand services.

"We feel very comfortable that we have plenty of bandwidth for a long time," he told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the NXTcomm communications conference in Chicago.

In its original 13-state territory, AT&T expects to deploy U-Verse to 18 million homes using FTTN by the end of 2008, though it plans to use FTTP for 1 million newly built homes, he said.

That ratio of FTTN to FTTP was unlikely to be different when AT&T deploys U-Verse in the former BellSouth territory, Carey said.

AT&T bought BellSouth last year, consolidating ownership of their wireless joint venture. Carey said AT&T plans to update its U-Verse deployment targets to include the former BellSouth area in the next few weeks.

Previously, the company said it plans to spend $6 billion to $6.5 billion on the U-Verse network in its original 13-state territory by the end of 2008. Carey said its biggest challenge was in hiring enough contractors to help install the network.

"Everyone in the media wants to make the bandwidth a bigger issue than I believe it is," he said. "I would tell you my belief is the biggest challenge right now is finding ways to go faster in the build."

Analysts have said installation technicians are in short supply, with Verizon also hiring as it builds out its network.

Carey expects average installation times to shorten as technicians become more experienced. While the average was now around 7 to 8 hours, seasoned technicians can finish in around 4 to 5 hours, he said.

AT&T said this month the pace of U-Verse deployment was picking up, with average installations of about 600 per day, compared to the figure of about 500 homes per day it gave at the end of last month.