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Vanderburgh County, AT&T ink contract to deliver fiber to 20,000 county homes, businesses

Agreement to bring 1 GIG service to rural areas within two years

Vanderburgh County Commissioners today signed a $39.6 million contract with AT&T to build a state-of-the art fiber network that will deliver high-speed internet to unincorporated parts of the county within two years.

"High-speed internet is foundational to creating economic and educational success in rural Vanderburgh County," said Vanderburgh County Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave. "This agreement with AT&T to build an all-fiber network is the keystone to connecting more than 20,000 of our citizens and businesses to future opportunities."

"AT&T's agreement with Vanderburgh County shows how private companies can successfully work with local governments to close the digital divide," said AT&T Indiana President Bill Soards. "This project will create local jobs as we build the network and more opportunity for all once the network is complete."

“The prospect of moving from little or no service to excellent service is a truly transformational opportunity,” said County Commission President Ben Shoulders.  

"This is a big deal for our children and grandchildren. Expanding broadband in rural Vanderburgh County creates more opportunity," said Commissioner Jeff Hatfield.

The new fiber network will be capable of delivering speeds up to 1 Gbps on both upload and download. The faster speeds and capacity mean customers can connect multiple devices, stream multiple entertainment sources, easily upload content to social media and experience ultra-low lag for pro-level gaming - all at the same time.

AT&T’s network planning is already underway with the county, and the company expects this fiber service to be available in portions of the county as early as the third quarter of next year.

AT&T will provide regular updates to county officials and its future customers. To keep residents up to date when service will be available at their address, AT&T is planning to conduct a local awareness campaign. To learn more about AT&T Fiber, citizens can visit att.com/fiber. AT&T also offers affordable options for low-income households, including Access from AT&T.

Under the terms of the contract, Vanderburgh County will be contributing $9.9 million to the project. The funds come from the American Rescue Plan Act, a federal program to provide funding to combat the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. AT&T is investing $29.7 million in the project and will own and operate the network.

Vanderburgh County’s payments will be made only when AT&T hits agreed-to milestones through the completion of the project in late 2023.

Vanderburgh County’s Commitment to Broadband

This project is a direct result of the 2018 Broadband Ready Ordinance, which received unanimous support. Vanderburgh County was one of the first in the state to achieve this designation. The ordinance removed barriers by creating a 10-day permitting process and creating tax exemption for new broadband investment.

This fiber project follows earlier broadband actions taken by the Vanderburgh County Commission, including active pursuit of state grants and devoting local Tax Increment Finance District dollars to improve access in a northwestern portion of the county.

About AT&T Fiber

AT&T Fiber delivers upload and download speeds of up to 1 Gbps, which means up to 25x faster upload speeds than cable.^[1] With consistently fast speeds, even at peak times,^[2] consumers can expect strong performance across AT&T Fiber’s portfolio of speed tiers. In addition to fast speeds, customers have the added benefit of experiencing high-speed broadband internet with the latest Wi-Fi equipment, like the Wi-Fi 6 and tri-band enabled Wi-Fi gateway^[3] and optional extenders.

With no internet data limits, no annual contracts, next-gen Wi-Fi equipment and enhanced security features, AT&T Fiber subscribers receive award-winning customer satisfaction on their terms. In fact, AT&T just recently won #1 in Customer Satisfaction from J.D. Power for Residential Internet in the North Central region, which includes Indiana, for the second year in a row.^[4]

About AT&T in Indiana

From 2018-2020, AT&T invested more than $1 billion in its wireless and wireline networks in Indiana to expand coverage and improve connectivity in more communities. That investment has increased reliability, coverage and overall performance for residents and businesses. It’s also improved critical communications services for Indiana’s first responders using the FirstNet network.

^{_{1 Comparison of Internet 1000 wired upload connection speed to Xfinity, Spectrum & COX 1Gig and 1.2Gig service with uploads of 35 Mbps}}

^{_{2 Based on wired connection to gateway}}

^{_{3 Subject to availability}}

^{_{4 AT&T received the highest score in the North Central region in the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Satisfaction (ISP) Study of customers' satisfaction with their current internet service provider. Visit jdpower.com/awards.}}