AT&T shaves a million from U-Verse rollout estimate
by Darren Murph 
posted Nov 6th 2007 at 4:57PM
While we've certainly seen AT&T's U-Verse reach more and more homes recently, it seems that the carrier overshot its original estimate on exactly how many Americans would have access to it by the end of next year. Reportedly, the firm has now stated that only 17 million homes are expected to have access to it by the end of 2008, which is down a million from prior approximations. The delay is being blamed on a "shift in resources to prepare for the U-Verse rollout in the former BellSouth territory," but interestingly, we're not told specifically what parts of the nation are expected to be affected by the setback. If you'll recall, this isn't the first time we've seen a U-Verse launch get pushed back, but the company did state that it would be increasing its capital spending on the service by a staggering $500 million to take care of "preparatory work."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
GhostDoggy @ Nov 7th 2007 5:25AM
Shift in resources in the former BellSouth territory? In the business, we call this layoffs. AT&T is a center-centric company whereby they deploy, maintain, and upgrade per platform out of one center--and in this case it is Texas.
But, does anyone really care?
ManZero @ Nov 7th 2007 8:04AM
I just switched to U-verse because it saved me about $50 a month over Comcast for digital TV and Internet here in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The HD channels look and sound great, and I like getting HDNet and Big Ten Network HD, which Comcast doesn't carry. I'm just hoping the whole "only one HD channel at a time" thing doesn't get in the way too often.
What's really nice is having a choice and saving some money. The promise of cable competition was that it would reduce prices within a market. Not holding my breath on that one, but at least I'm saving in the short term.
Here are my first impressions:
http://blog.mlive.com/manzero/2007/11/att_uverse_wont_kill_xbox_live.html
Don @ Nov 7th 2007 12:36PM
Apparently I'm one of those million SOL non-customers. AT&T only provides U-verse to half my apartment complex, presumably because they didn't put the neighborhood node close enough to provide reliable signal to the other half, and I live in a building on the side that doesn't have it. I called and asked what the deal was, and their response: "Sorry, we don't have any plans to expand service in your area at this time." So you're just going to leave half our complex without the option of U-verse? "For now, yes." You do realize I would like to pay you for your service, right? "Yes sir, but unfortunately there aren't plans to expand right now. There may be some time in the future."
Some time in the future. Gee, thanks.
GhostDoggy @ Nov 8th 2007 5:52AM
Don, don't feel so bad. I will age several more years before AT&T make U-verse available to me, and I can walk 100 feet out my front door and dig up their fiber.