Cupertino To Get AT&T’s ‘GigaPower’ Treatment

AT&T said Wednesday that it will bring its fiber-based, 1-Gbps-capable “GigaPower” platform to parts of Cupertino, Calif., where the telco tangles with Comcast, the area’s incumbent cable operator.

Cupertino, the tech-savvy area that is also the corporate home of Apple, is the first California city to be named as a target for GigaPower, which is already deployed in parts of Dallas/Ft. Worth and Austin, Texas.

As has been the case with other markets that will get GigaPower, specific locations of availability and pricing for services in Cupertino will be announced at a later date, AT&T said.

In eligible areas in Dallas/Fort Worth, AT&T is selling standalone 1-Gig service to residential subs starting at $120 per month. In Austin, AT&T is selling the 1-Gig standalone for $70 per month under a “Premier” plan that requires customers to participate in a targeted ad program, or $99 per month for a “Standard” tier that doesn’t include the advertising component.

Comcast’s current, fastest DOCSIS 3.0-based residential broadband tier supports downstream bursts up to 150 Mbps and upstream speeds up to 20 Mbps. The MSO has also been selling a fiber-based 505 Mbps down/100 Mbps up service in select markets, including Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Jacksonville, and south Florida, as well as in its Northeast division, but has yet to launch that offering in its California properties.

Here’s an updated list of markets, alongside the area’s incumbent wireline provider, where AT&T has launched or committed to deploy its GigaPower platform.

-Austin** (Time Warner Cable, Grande Communications)

-Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas** (Time Warner Cable, Grande Communications, Charter Communications)

-Cary, N.C.* (TWC)

-Charlotte, N.C.* (TWC)

-Carrboro, N.C.* (TWC)

-Chapel Hill, N.C.* (TWC)

-Durham, N.C.* (TWC)

-Greensboro, N.C. (TWC)

-Houston, Texas (Comcast)

-San Antonio, Texas* (TWC, Grande Communications)

-Overland Park, Kan.* (TWC)

-Miami, Fla. (Comcast)

-Nashville, Tenn.* (Comcast)

-Raleigh, N.C.* (TWC)

-Winston-Salem, N.C. (TWC)

*Also a potential buildout site for Google Fiber

**GigaPower services launched

In April, AT&T announced it was  exploring an expansion of GigaPower to as many as 100 additional cities across 25 markets. It has also proposed to expand GigaPower to an additional 2 million customers as a condition of its pending acquisition of DirecTV.