AT&T Invests More Than $90-Million Over 3-Year Period to Enhance Local Networks in South Dakota

PIERRE, S.D., Oct. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- At AT&T*, we invested more than $90-million in our South Dakota wireless and wired networks during 2014-2016. These investments drive a wide range of upgrades to reliability, coverage, speed and overall performance for residents and businesses. They also improve critical services that support public safety and first responders.

In 2016, AT&T made 249 wireless network upgrades in South Dakota. These upgrades include the addition of new cell sites as well as adding network capacity to existing cell sites.

"We're proud to invest in South Dakota and expand our wireless broadband network to support growing demand for the latest wireless devices and capabilities," said Cheryl Riley, President, AT&T Northern Plains. "This type of investment helps spur economic development, job creation and greater access to healthcare, education and vital public safety services."

"AT&T's continued investment in South Dakota is a strong indicator that our legislators are creating business-friendly policies that encourage companies to invest in our technology infrastructure," said David Owen, president of the South Dakota Chamber of Commerce & Industry. "This type of investment is greatly needed as our manufacturing, high-tech sector, agriculture and ranching industries continue to grow and are increasingly reliant on high-speed Internet services." 

For the third year in a row, FORTUNE magazine recognized AT&T as the Most Admired Telecommunications Company in the world in 2017. We also ranked No. 37 among the Top 50 World's Most Admired companies.

AT&T is the only telecommunications company on the list. We ranked No. 1 in all 9 attributes. This included innovation, financial soundness and quality of products/services.

To learn more about our coverage in South Dakota, or anywhere in the U.S., visit the AT&T Coverage Viewer. For updates on the AT&T wireless network, please visit the AT&T network news page.

*About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) helps millions around the globe connect with leading entertainment, business, mobile and high speed internet services. We offer the nation's best data network** and the best global coverage of any U.S. wireless provider. We're one of the world's largest providers of pay TV. We have TV customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin American countries. Nearly 3.5 million companies, from small to large businesses around the globe, turn to AT&T for our highly secure smart solutions. 

AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc. Additional information about AT&T products and services is available at about.att.com. Follow our news on Twitter at @ATT, on Facebook at facebook.com/att and on YouTube at youtube.com/att.

© 2017 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

**Claim based on the Nielsen Certified Data Network Score. Score includes data reported by wireless consumers in the Nielsen Mobile Insights survey, network measurements from Nielsen Mobile Performance and Nielsen Drive Test Benchmarks for Q1 + Q2 2017 across 121 markets.

From FORTUNE Magazine, March 1, 2017. 2017 Time Inc. FORTUNE© and The World's Most Admired Companies® are registered trademarks of Time Inc. and are used under License. FORTUNE and Time Inc. are not affiliated with, and do not endorse products or services of, AT&T.

SOURCE AT&T Inc.