AT&T Is Spending Billions to Wire U.S. for Fast Internet as Rivals Take Different Path

For AT&T, the fastest home internet needs wires. The telecommunications giant is expanding its network of fiber-optic cables to deliver fast internet speeds for customers, including those in places where it doesn’t already provide broadband. The plan doesn’t come cheap. It will cost billions of dollars over the next several years, a price tag that the company—whose debt load outstrips its annual revenue—doesn’t want to carry alone. AT&T has tapped an outside investor and wants to access government funding to accelerate the build-out. Doubling down on cable sets AT&T on a different path than its rivals Verizon and T-Mobile, which are relying on improved technology that beams broadband service from the same cellular towers that link their millions of smartphone customers. AT&T is testing a similar service but on a smaller scale, and executives say fiber remains the long-term focus.