AT&T deploys new nodes in wake of ATTL exit

US-based telco AT&T (NYSE: T) approved this week the construction of two MPLS nodes in Quito, Ecuador and Cali, Colombia, to be completed in the fourth quarter this year, AT&T's Americas region business VP Penny Shaffer told BNamericas. AT&T also plans to build nodes in Caracas, Venezuela and Bogota, Colombia for the Latin American region this year, and the company's technical and regulatory evaluation committee may additionally authorize the construction of nodes in Costa Rica and Panama. The final decision on the latter two will "likely" be made before the end of June, according to Shaffer. The construction of the nodes follows AT&T's global strategy to bring together all of its fiber optic undersea cables into a unified worldwide MPLS network where every single node links to at least two other nodes. The connectivity will allow for seamless continuity, and provide for a single contracting mechanism with one set of systems to handle fault management, Shaffer said. AT&T has budgeted US$300mn to begin the network unification, through co-location of MPLS nodes with existing global frame network (GFN) nodes. AT&T operates 640 nodes in the US and 200 more internationally, of which 12 are located in Latin America. Nodes outside of the US will be built according to client demand, Shaffer said: "US$300mn is not the end of the spending, and 200 nodes is not the end of the buildout." AT&T has been present in Latin America for decades, with global frame network (GFN) infrastructure in ten countries and remote access dial platforms in every country in the region. The company created AT&T Latin America (ATTL) in 2000, through the acquisition of two South American companies, to act as a separate subsidiary serving the region. However, in October of last year AT&T decided to pull out of ATTL due to the subsidiary's ongoing financial difficulties. In February AT&T signed a letter of intent to sell its 67% stake in ATTL to Latin American-oriented investment group Southern Cross. Shaffer said that despite AT&T's withdrawal from ATTL, it remains committed to the region, and will continue to lease last-mile connectivity from ATTL as well as incumbent operators to serve existing clients. AT&T's focus in the region will remain the same: serving the global needs of multinationals, she said. AT&T's regional as well as worldwide target is the world's 3,300 principal multinational corporations. In Latin America the company already serves 1,300 of these clients. "There will be people out there that will think we have left but we haven't," Shaffer said, emphasizing that the ATTL sale does not equate to a departure from Latin America. The company's marketing strategy will involve personalized communication to each corporation, rather than the use of mass instruments such as billboards, such as was the case with ATTL, she added. AT&T offers international private line, ATN, frame relay, IP-enabled frame and IP VPN services. Client attention ranges from having services managed by AT&T, even monitoring end devices on the client's premises, to a do-it-yourself framework.