AT&T GigaPower on hold in St. Louis as lawmakers mull net neutrality

Brian Feldt

Reporter- St. Louis Business Journal

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AT&T's planned effort to make St. Louis a GigaPower city is now on hold as the telecommunications giant waits to hear more details on forthcoming net neutrality regulations.

Reuters reports that AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, while speaking at a Wells Fargo financial conference in New York, said, "We can't go out and invest that kind of money deploying fiber to 100 cities not knowing under what rules those investments will be governed."

Under the initiative, AT&T would have delivered Internet speeds of up to 1 gigabit a second, about 100 times faster than standard Web access. AT&T was also considering building out the GigaPower service to neighboring cities including Chesterfield, Edwardsville, Florissant, Granite City. All those projects are now on hold. Build-out had yet to begin as AT&T was in the beginning phases of discussions with local officials.

AT&T Missouri President John Sondag would not comment on the matter.

Earlier this week, President Obama outlined his plan for net neutrality. Meanwhile, the Federal Communications Commission is considering a hybrid regulatory approach to net neutrality.

AT&T is the first major telecommunications company to take such a step. Locally, Internet providers have been mum on the subject.

AT&T has invested $2.5 billion in Missouri to build out new systems, which includes GigaPower. Nationally, the company has invested more than $21 billion in such efforts.

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