AT&T Fiber Named Best and Fastest in US
AT&T Fiber has won Ookla's first-ever "Best Home Internet" award in the United States. The company's service was also named the fastest in the country for the fourth consecutive time.
- Ookla's "Speed Score" metric, which incorporates a provider's download and upload speeds as well as latency, was the primary basis for the award. For the first half of 2024, AT&T Fiber achieved a Speed Score of 360.85, with top download speeds of 860.87 Mbps and top upload speeds of 826.16 Mbps. - The company's fiber network began in 2013 in Austin, Texas, with the initial goal of delivering speeds up to 1 gigabit per second, which was nearly seven times faster than the average internet speed at the time. Since then, AT&T has expanded to offer multi-gig speeds, including 2-Gig and 5-Gig plans, to a large portion of its fiber customers. - As of the first quarter of 2025, AT&T's fiber network passes over 29.5 million locations, and the company added 261,000 new fiber subscribers in that quarter alone. The company is on track to exceed its goal of passing 30 million locations by the end of 2025. - CEO John Stankey has indicated a long-term vision to potentially expand the fiber network to 45 million locations, citing better-than-expected returns on their fiber investments. This expansion is supported by a capital expenditure plan of around $22 billion annually for 2025 through 2027. - A key part of AT&T's business strategy is the convergence of its fiber and wireless services. Over 40% of AT&T Fiber households also subscribe to AT&T's wireless service, and the company experiences a significant improvement in wireless market share in areas where it also offers fiber. - In the fourth quarter of 2023, AT&T's fiber division generated $1.7 billion in revenue, with the average revenue per user (ARPU) for fiber customers at $68.50, compared to $61.38 for non-fiber broadband customers. For the full year of 2024, the company's broadband revenue is expected to grow by at least 7%. - While cable companies still hold a larger overall share of the U.S. residential broadband market, fiber providers, and AT&T in particular, consistently receive higher customer satisfaction ratings. In a 2025 American Customer Satisfaction Index survey, AT&T Fiber ranked highest among all internet service providers. - To accelerate its expansion into new territories, AT&T has formed a joint venture called Gigapower with BlackRock and is also pursuing public-private partnerships and acquisitions, such as the deal to acquire Lumen's Mass Markets fiber business.
