On Tuesday AT&T announced it's offering up to 1 gigabit fiber broadband connectivity to customers located in the Sacramento area, and in parts of Modesto, Rancho Cordova, Sacramento, Stockton and West Sacramento.
"We chose to bring AT&T Fiber Network to the area because our Sacramento region has established a strong environment for investing access to right of ways, electronic communications and more," said Alice Perez, the company's external affairs Sacramento area director, during a morning press conference.
Sacramento City Councilmember Rick Jennings said the fiber network is crucial to the city's growth and development.
"The AT&T fiber-optic deployment will open up new possibilities for entrepreneurs and local businesses. It will assist impatient consumers like me who want faster speeds for surfing, shopping, gaming, social networking and much, much more," Jennings said.
The high-speed connectivity will help Sacramento maintain its standing as a hub for innovation and will be beneficial for attracting new businesses and tech companies, Jennings added.
Sacramento State University President Robert Nelsen said he was "blown away" when he arrived in town that Sacramento didn't have high-speed cable. Nelsen was named Sac State's president in July 2015.
Nelsen said he spends part of his role is working to bring new jobs to the city. Sacramento can't be a technology hub without high-speed broadband, he said.
"So now I have another arrow in my quiver when I go out and talk to them. I can say, we are a technology hub; this is a great city. Come here, locate, be part of a new renaissance, a growing city in which you can take pride," Nelsen said.
Tim Ray, regional vice president for AT&T external affairs in Northern California, said the company has been negotiating with Sacramento through a public-private partnership called "5 Bars."
In June, the City Council approved a partnership with the Irvine, Calif.-based company 5 Bars, which will develop a wireless master plan for Sacramento, proactively market city-owned assets and negotiate agreements with service providers on behalf of the city, according to the agreement. Ray said working with the single point of contact has been useful.
Sacramento CIO Maria MacGunigal told Techwire last summer that the arrangement with 5 Bars should result in a streamlined process for vendors that want to co-locate their infrastructure on city property, while at the same time managing the visual clutter on city property, such as light poles, that small-scale networks can create.
AT&T previously announced the availability of high-speed connectivity in Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln. The company said it plans to extend those offerings to Fairfield, Tracy and Vacaville in the future.
The city of Sacramento is served by wired and wireless carriers. The National Broadband Map summarizes the offerings (data from 2014):
