AT&T swiftly expands U-verse in Wisconsin, but mum on plans [Daily Reporter (Milwaukee, WI)]





TMCNet: ATT swiftly expands U-verse in Wisconsin, but mum on plans [Daily Reporter (Milwaukee, WI)]


(Daily Reporter (Milwaukee, WI) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ATT Inc. representatives on Wednesday told Milwaukee officials the company’s new U-verse cable service has expanded rapidly and fairly across all income levels.

The telecommunications company, though, provided few specifics on its service and future plans.

That’s because it’s not required.

A 2007 state law removed control over cable franchises from municipalities and handed over the authority to the state Department of Financial Institutions. That means municipalities retain virtually no control over cable operators.

“We aren’t in the franchise business any longer,” said Alderman Robert Bauman, chairman of the city’s Public Works Committee.

Availability of service to low-income city residents was a sticking point five years ago among Common Council members when ATT proposed implementing U-verse service in Milwaukee. U-verse provides TV, Internet and digital phone service.

Since the 2007 state law passed, though, ATT reports it has spent $300 million building its U-verse infrastructure across the state, including its strongest presence in metropolitan Milwaukee. Before that, Time Warner Inc. had a virtual monopoly over the Milwaukee market.

ATT officials told the city’s Public Works Committee on Wednesday that U-verse is available to more than 50 percent of Milwaukee-area households, including at least 30 percent of homes that could be defined as low-income.

The officials could not define low income, though, and declined to provide the exact percentage of low-income residents with access to U-verse.

“I do know the actual percent,” said James Jermain, a regional vice president for ATT, “and at this point we’d like to keep that information confidential.

“If you looked at the percentage of households within our service territory that are low-income households and you compare it to the percentage of households we’re providing service to, I think you’ll find those two numbers to be very close in terms of access to the product.”

Those numbers, though, are inaccessible to anyone outside ATT.

The Department of Financial Institutions does not require in- depth subscribership or price information from cable operators, said George Althoff, the agency’s communication director.

When ATT began installing its U-verse service, Bauman said, residents complained about the sizes of the utility boxes, which some claimed were oversized and intrusive to property owners.

The city, though, no longer has oversight over a cable operator’s infrastructure or business practices, Bauman said.

“That’s all been rendered moot by actions of the Legislature,” Bauman said. “So we have at this point considerably less jurisdiction over what they’re proposing to do or what they have been doing over the last four years.”

Although ATT might not have to run its U-verse plans by the city, Alderman Willie Wade praised the company for hiring about 250 employees to work in a Milwaukee call center, one of three U-verse call centers across the country.

“It’s important for people to know jobs are being created,” Wade said. “These jobs are available for residents of the city of Milwaukee and the surrounding areas.”

ATT’s number of call center employees, much like the rest of the information provided to the city, only was an estimate, though.

“I guess there’s some proprietary and competitive issues relative to how much they can tell us,” Bauman said, “and I suppose thatis somewhat understandable.”

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Article source: http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-att-swiftly-expands-u-verse-wiscons-but-mum-/2012/01/21/6068159.htm

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