AT&T To Invest Nearly US$10 Billion To Drive Agility For Businesses Worldwide

Investment will Enhance and Expand Integrated Solutions

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Feb 21, 2016, 08:00 ET

BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T* plans to invest nearly US$10 billion in 2016 to deliver our integrated solutions for businesses worldwide. This investment continues AT&T's history of investing to deliver global solutions and will bolster the company's network and capabilities to enhance the customer experience, including service delivery and support. AT&T will also expand its innovative platforms and launch new solutions in more places. AT&T continues to expect its overall capital investment for 2016 to be in the US$22 billion range.

"Business is moving faster than ever and companies around the world need to be agile to quickly adapt to changing markets," said Ralph de la Vega, vice chairman of AT&T Inc. and CEO of Business Solutions & International. "Our industry-leading network and innovative platforms give them the tools to do just that — where they want it and how they want it—around the globe."

"Businesses need flexibility to drive a long-term strategy and pivot to maximize short-term opportunities," he said. "As the premier integrated solutions provider, we put everything together for our customers across wired and wireless to help them seamlessly connect their customers, employees and vendors around the world."

The targeted investment plans include:

In Mexico, we'll integrate more than 6,000 kilometers of Mexico fiber currently supporting the wireless operations into the AT&T wireline network; enhance these assets by investing in more AT&T global network nodes and add hundreds of sellers focused on selling business solutions in Mexico. This is in addition to the US$3 billion announced in 2015 to extend our high-speed, mobile Internet service to Mexico, covering 100 million consumers and businesses in Mexico by year-end 2018.
Enhance and expand our innovative platforms and solutions
- Connectivity – Bring high-speed, highly secure wireline and wireless network connectivity to more cities around the world.
- Network on Demand – Continue to software-enable our global network. Expand our software-centric platform that lets us deliver integrated solutions faster and lets customers easily add or change network services quickly and easily.
- Internet of Things (IoT) – Expand our dedicated IoT networks in Europe and the U.S. to connect assets in different industries, like connected cars, fleets, shipping containers, utility meters, air cargo and heavy equipment.
- AT&T NetBond^® – Roll out additional features, extend highly secure connections to more leading cloud providers and expand in Asia-Pac, EMEA, U.S. and Canada.
- Security – Launch additional features and consulting services globally, while enhancing our security capabilities and alliances and simplifying the customer experience.
- Collaboration Solutions – Deliver integrated communications tools that help businesses of all sizes collaborate across platforms and over geographical boundaries to colleagues, collaborators, suppliers and customers around the world.

"Our innovation is completely oriented around speed and agility," said Steve McGaw, chief marketing officer, AT&T Business Solutions.

"By bringing the entire scope of the AT&T capabilities to bear, we're helping our customers turn trade-offs of the past into combination plays of the future. Our software-centric network lets us create and deploy integrated solutions faster, infusing agility into our customers' own operations. For customers, that means a competitive advantage," he said.

AT&T was recently named a leader in Gartner Inc.'s January 2016 "Magic Quadrant for Network Services, Global" for the 12th straight year¹.

We were also named as a leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Telecom Service Provider 2015 Vendor Assessment². The report cites the AT&T "robust portfolio of managed services and cloud and security services." The IDC MarketScape recognized us for "aggressively seeking new innovations to improve the customer experience."

Our business customers include nearly all of the Fortune 1000 companies. We also serve 59% of the FTSE 100 companies, more than 90% of the CAC 40 companies, over 85% of the DAX companies and over 60% of the Nikkei 225 companies. We have thousands of dedicated employees in nearly 60 countries working to support our global operations.

Follow MWC updates from AT&T at MWC media kit and @att and @attbusiness.

¹ ^{Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Network Services, Global, Neil Rickard, Bjarne Munch, 14 January 2016}Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

² ^{IDC MarketScape: Worldwide Telecom Services Provider 2015 Vendor Assessment, doc #257339, July 2015}

*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.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions around the globe connect with leading entertainment, mobile, high speed Internet and voice services. We're the world's largest provider of pay TV. We have TV customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin American countries. We offer the best global coverage of any U.S. wireless provider*. And we help businesses worldwide serve their customers better with our mobility and highly secure cloud solutions.

Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at http://about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att.

© 2016 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.

*Global coverage claim based on offering discounted voice and data roaming; LTE roaming; voice roaming; and world-capable smartphone and tablets in more countries than any other U.S. based carrier. International service required. Coverage not available in all areas. Coverage may vary per country and be limited/restricted in some countries.

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.

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.