UK to benefit from $1bn AT&T investment

AT&T is building a new datacentre in London

UK businesses will benefit from a $1bn (£659m) funding programme announced today by AT&T to upgrade its networks and expand key communications services.

As part of the investment, the company is building a new datacentre in London and a new telepresence room in Redditch that companies will be able to use to communicate with businesses and customers across the globe.

AT&T has also set up telepresence rooms in other global locations, including Brussels, Bangalore, Toronto and Campinas in Brazil, to help drive uptake of the technology.

The company added that the investment is designed to meet the growing shift in demand in network traffic from voice to data and video, and to IP-based data and video, as customers migrate from legacy data networks to virtual private networks and managed applications based on Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology.

AT&T also announced further investment in its enterprise mobility applications, including improvements in applications based on Long Term Evolution and Wi-Fi to meet growing demand for mobile broadband hosted services.

Tom Regent, vice president for operations in Europe at AT&T, claimed that the company's European customers will benefit from the investment in its network capabilities and the new applications by allowing them to meet ever-shifting business needs.

"IP-based solutions and applications are increasingly important for companies in this region that are focused on productivity gains and adapting their operations to support their changing needs," he said.

AT&T will also launch a number of enhanced IPv6 MPLS nodes in Europe, and will increase the capacity of its submarine cable across the Atlantic to 70Gbit/s.

Finally, AT&T will increase support for over 750 wireless devices that can already connect to its network, such as e-readers.