Drones Taking Our Network to New Height

Imagine you’re at a concert watching your favorite band, and out of the corner of your eye you notice a tethered drone hovering nearby. But this drone isn’t taking photos or videos of the band. It's temporarily providing enhanced LTE wireless coverage at the packed venue so you, along with thousands of others in attendance, can simultaneously send photos and videos to share the moment.

While this isn’t a reality yet, we expect many different drone uses in the future. This week, we reached another milestone by launching the trial phase of our national drone program. Led by Art Pregler, our national drone program is driving innovation, and focuses on how AT&T and our customers can benefit from drone-based solutions. We expect our experiences will lay the foundation for new, exciting drone applications. Possible uses include Flying COWs (Cell on Wings) providing LTE coverage at large events or even rapid disaster response. A Flying COW may even be able to provide coverage when a vehicle is unable to drive to a designated area.