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AT&T Investing Tens of Millions of Dollars in Louisiana Network Resiliency

Priority Project will Bury Fiber-Optic Infrastructure Across the Hardest Hit Areas

AT&T* announced it is investing tens of millions of dollars to further harden its network in Louisiana against the impact of hurricanes and tropical storms by burying fiber-optic infrastructure previously deployed on poles across some of the hardest hit areas during Hurricane Ida.  The primary focus of the project is work in parts of the Bayou parishes and in and around the New Orleans area, including Jefferson, Lafourche, Orleans, St. Charles, St. James and Terrebonne parishes. The fast-tracked project is targeted for completion in the first half of 2022 with a majority of the work scheduled for completion this year.    

The sustained, hurricane-force winds from Hurricane Ida caused significant damage to infrastructure across the region. Despite these challenges, AT&T’s restoration efforts outpaced the rest of the wireless industry and outpaced the in-home broadband and voice industry.  

With today’s announcement, AT&T is again leading the way by making additional enhancements to the resilience of its network infrastructure to help mitigate potential impacts from future events.

As a result of decades of investment in Louisiana, our extensive fiber-optic network connects businesses and residents in communities across the state and provides critical backhaul for our wireless network. In the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, multiple cuts to key fiber-optic lines occurred in storm-impacted areas, and this new initiative will help enhance network resiliency in future storms.

“I am proud of the tremendous work that has been done by our AT&T team to restore services quickly and effectively,” said Sonia Perez, President AT&T Southeast States. “Having said that, we learn from every disaster event and make enhancements, and we are doing the same here. This critical project is the beginning of our work to apply constructive learnings from the impacts of Hurricane Ida.”

There are more than 3,200 AT&T employees who call Louisiana home, and many of them have been critical to the response and recovery efforts. In addition, hundreds of AT&T employees from other states assisted in the efforts to restore connectivity to the area quickly – and continue to support our ongoing work in some of the hardest hit areas.

To additionally support our customers, as Ida made landfall and through September 21, AT&T waived overage fees and offered unlimited talk, text, and data to customers in 388 zip codes.