Partner Profiles: AT&T
By Scott Jansen, AT&T Wisconsin Director-External Affairs
Tell us about your organization.
AT&T Wisconsin is a premier telecommunications, broadband and video service provider in Wisconsin. Locally, we employ thousands of Wisconsin residents, the majority of whom are union employees. As one of many landline telephone companies in Wisconsin, we trace our roots back to the Milwaukee Telephone Exchange, a Bell-licensed company that opened a switchboard in the city in 1879, and to the formation of Wisconsin Telephone Co. in 1882. Since that time, AT&T Wisconsin has evolved our landline network into a fiber-optic-based IP data network capable of provisioning advanced voice, data and video services to many of the Wisconsin residential and business customers located in the AT&T Wisconsin service footprint.
AT&T Wisconsin is also an affiliate of AT&T Inc., a cutting-edge global telecommunications company through which wireless and other services are provided to many Wisconsin-based customers.
What kinds of technology does your organization utilize?
AT&T places the latest technology available in its Wisconsin network. For example, we use fiber optic cables with electronics that use multiple light wave lengths over the same fiber stands to increase capacity. We also utilize Internet Protocol for the transmission of voice, data and video services. AT&T uses and AT&T Labs often develop the latest technology for all types of services – voice, data and video.
What technological challenges does your organization currently face?
As a company that helps create and implement the latest technologies, our challenges differ from those of many other organizations. Our top challenge is to continually bring consumers new technologies and features to improve their lives and business efforts at competitive price points.
What, if any, technology policy issues are of importance to your organization? (green technology, broadband deployment, privacy, etc.)
We advocate numerous public policy positions that will ultimately benefit consumers and sustain competition. These include those you list above – green technology, broadband deployment and privacy – as well as tax policies, use of public right-of-way, siting of cell towers, network access and interconnection and wireless phone usage. We believe that some consumer protections are necessary in a competitive marketplace, but any policies that do not create a level playing field for competition or remove impediments to competition ultimately limit the deployment of cutting-edge technologies and services for consumers.
How does your organization see the future of technology in Wisconsin?
Technological improvements and innovations are a constant in the telecommunications industry, but their deployment in a particular state can be helped or hindered by the local business climate. We embrace the opportunity to continually evolve the AT&T networks in Wisconsin and believe Wisconsin’s technology future is bright as long as the state continues in turn to embrace policies that encourage technology deployment. In a capital intensive market absent the assurance of a reasonable return on investment, carriers need a progressive business climate to minimize the inherent market risks. Wisconsin needs to facilitate such private investments by removing uncertainty and allowing providers and technologies to fully and equally compete for customers.
Why did you decide to partner with Wired Wisconsin?
We support Wired Wisconsin’s mission of trying to improve the state through better use and broader availability of technology. Wisconsin’s future depends on being a technology leader. We are impressed by the variety of partners Wired Wisconsin has brought to the table to work on this issue.
