TALLAHASSE, Fla., Oct. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- AT&T is "lighting up" businesses at an impressive pace these days. So far, service crews have installed fiber to an additional 750 multi-tenant buildings across Florida, making fiber-based broadband services available to more than 25,000 business customer locations.  

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The effort is part of AT&T's Project Velocity IP (VIP), a three-year investment plan to expand and enhance the company's wireless and wireline IP broadband networks, including deploying its fiber network to an additional 1 million business customer locations in its wireline service area by year-end 2015.

Under the fiber to the building program, Florida businesses in these AT&T Fiber Ready Buildings have access to an expanded array of security, network and cloud-based services, all of which ride on the fiber network. Specifically, companies in these buildings can more quickly and seamlessly perform such tasks as:

• Uploading and downloading large data files and images;
• Sharing large files with employees or customers in other locations;
• Uploading edits to company websites;
• Backing up data remotely in the cloud at one or multiple locations; and
• Videoconferencing with suppliers, business partners and customers.

The services are especially beneficial to businesses that regularly handle huge files such as medical images, illustrations, videos, engineering designs, and large presentation decks.

AT&T Fiber Ready buildings provide:

• Reliable and highly secure access to leading business technology solutions, including cloud, virtual private network (VPN), and voice over IP (VoIP) services.
• Options for adding equipment to enhance in-building wireless coverage and speeds.
• High-speed internet access over Ethernet with upload and download speeds of up to 1 Gbps**.
• Improved efficiency by converging voice and data over the same network.

"By offering blazing-fast upload and download speeds, generally available to only large businesses, AT&T Fiber Ready buildings can take small and medium businesses to the next level," said Marshall Criser III, President, AT&T Florida. "Fiber-based wired and wireless services bring the world to our business customers, but, just as important, they also help bring these customers to the world."

The program also offers benefits to property owners and managers, including:

• More appeal to potential tenants by providing access to the most advanced telecommunications services.
• Deployment of fiber-based electronic equipment that can serve multiple tenants, streamlining the installation process and minimizing disruption.

For more information about AT&T's fiber to the building program, please visit: www.att.com/fiberreadybuilding. A brief animated video overview of the program can be viewed here.

Project VIP: Expanding Reach of Wireless and Wired BroadbandLast November, AT&T launched Project VIP, a three-year investment plan to expand and enhance its wireless and wireline IP broadband networks. As part of Project VIP, AT&T plans to increase the density of its wireless network by deploying more than 10,000 macro sites, more than 1,000 distributed antenna systems, and more than 40,000 small cells by year-end 2015. Through this initiative, the company plans to:

• Expand 4G LTE to cover more than 300 million people by year-end 2014, with plans to cover nearly 270 million people by the end of 2013 and be substantially complete with its build in summer 2014
• Expand the AT&T wired IP network to approximately 57 million customer locations, covering approximately 75 percent of customer locations in its wireline service area by year-end 2015
• Through the fiber-to-the-building program, expand its fiber network to reach 1 million additional business customer locations by year-end 2015

General InformationFor free business resources such as webinars, case studies, and best practices, visit the AT&T Small Business Solutions website. Additionally, real-time information and updates can be found on the AT&T Small Business Facebook page and AT&T Small Business Twitter channel.

* 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.** Certain services and speeds may not be available in all areas.

About AT&TAT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) is a premier communications holding company and one of the most honored companies in the world. Its subsidiaries and affiliates – AT&T operating companies – are the providers of AT&T services in the United States and internationally. With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest and most reliable 4G LTE network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile Internet, AT&T also offers the best wireless coverage worldwide of any U.S. carrier, offering the most wireless phones that work in the most countries.  It also offers advanced TV service with the AT&T U-verse^® brand. The company's suite of IP-based business communications services is one of the most advanced in the world.Additional information about AT&T Inc. and the products and services provided by AT&T subsidiaries and affiliates is available at http://www.att.com/aboutus or follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/att and YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/att.

© 2013 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the AT&T logo and all other marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

4G LTE speed claim based on national carriers' average 4G LTE download speeds. Reliability claim based on data transfer completion rates on nationwide 4G LTE networks. 4G LTE availability varies.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking StatementsInformation 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.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.