AT&T Investing $2B More in Its Mobile Network in 2010

Like a lot of frustrated AT&T customers, I haven't had the best history when it comes to coverage with the iPhone. Believe me, I understand that the iPhone is tremendously popular and can therefore drain resources on AT&T's network, but I also thought that AT&T could've prepared for that eventuality. Well, as they say, better late than never.

It was announced on Thursday that AT&T will boost the amount of money it's investing in its mobile network, as it plans to spend between $18 to $19 billion this year "upgrading its wireless and backhaul networks to handle the onslaught of new traffic," according to CNN. That onslaught will not only include the iPhone and the company's other mobile phones, but also new traffic coming from the recently announced iPad, which will be available within two months.

The roughly $2 billion more will go toward 2,000 new cell sites along with upgrading its existing sites with triple the fiber links it had last year. Along with helping to handle the increased traffic, this investment will also help the company better upgrade to 4G, which AT&T plans to start testing this year.

According to the article, the company's COO, John Stankey "acknowledged that AT&T has faced some difficulties, particularly in cities like New York and San Francisco," but he also said they're "closing the gap."

With usage on AT&T's network having grown 200 percent in '09, I imagine there will be a similar uptick this year, especially when the iPad shows up. But, according to Stankey, much of the usage on that device will be "offloaded to Wi-Fi hotspots, which will not affect AT&T's 3G network." Whatever the case may be, I commend the company for putting more money into a part of their business where they realize there have been problems in the past, and that should ideally mean happier iPhone users, a base that continues to grow.

Photo courtesy of claymor via stock.xchng