AT&T's Missouri chief discusses company's goals

John Sondag, president of AT&T Missouri, attended the opening of a new AT&T store in Jackson on Wednesday. He answered questions about the company locally, statewide and nationally.

Note: The following answers have been edited for space constraints.

Q: How much has AT&T expanded in Missouri in the past year?

A: In the past four years, we've invested about $2.5 billion in our networks, and that's both our wireless network and our wireline network -- so for Internet and phone and video and things like that. We are one of the few companies that operate in Missouri [where] we actually ... have customers in every county, so we have a network that covers the entire state. Part of our Project VIP, which is an initiative to do several things, one [is] to upgrade every tower in the state to 4G LTE. ... We've done that in the Cape Girardeau area already. In fact, just this summer in July we turned up about 18 new towers in the Perryville area, and so those plans will continue through the end of this year. ... Our goal is to have every tower in the state upgraded, and we continue ... to put more fiber into the ground and expand our fiber [optics] presence, so we can bring high-speed Internet to small businesses.

Q: What is 4G LTE?

A: LTE stands for long-term evolution and ... the 4G is just the fourth generation of a digital transmission of wireless signals, so the LTE is actually the latest technology that the industry is using. ... That can provide speed, so it's a faster transmission and there's more capacity, so you'll be able to get up like 45 megabits of speed on an LTE ... That's one of the things, not only AT&T, but other companies, too, have been focusing on how to handle the significant growth we've seen in mobile data transmission. ... There's great demand on our network, so we're continually looking to invest. ...

Q: How does your expansion in Missouri compare to surrounding states and the rest of the country?

A: We are doing similar investment throughout the country, but ... in Missouri I would say that if you looked at the size and the population of the state, we're probably spending maybe a little bit more per capita here than elsewhere, primarily due to the very good business climate that we have in Missouri. Our state lawmakers, and I will note in particular Rep. Kathy Swan from out of Cape, have been very supportive of our efforts to kind of streamline [the process for upgrading towers]. ... Kathy Swan sponsored a bill this past year that kind of streamlined that process ... And it's been very similar where they've eliminated some of the barriers we've seen, whether it's regulatory oversight by the state, or taxes, things like that. It's been a very good environment for us to come in and invest, and I think our corporation has recognized that ... That's one of the reasons why we spent $2.5 billion over that four-year period.

Q: If coverage has increased in the state, to what extent and in what ways? Have you been hiring a lot?

A: We have been hiring a lot. We've hired probably over 200 people this year. Just in Missouri we've hired people here locally, primarily to work in our stores. As we open up new stores, similar to this one in Jackson, we need to hire folks there. Also, @ our call center operations that we have in Cape Girardeau, we've added capacity there and added employees there. I think it's a reflection, really, of our industry and the growth in the industry. ... As we continue to strive to provide good customer service, it requires us to add retail consultants at stores, technicians to work on our network, and service reps in our call centers to talk to customers.

Q: Are there are any extra measures that AT&T takes to protect people from hacking, or is there anything you can do?

A: There are, and ... customer privacy is a critical objective for us. We respect the customer's need to retain their privacy and we take numerous steps to safeguard their information. ... We spend a lot of money to protect our networks so that hackers cannot get in. We offer services to businesses that help them protect their systems. ... The one thing I would tell customers to do with their tablets or smartphones [is] always ... password protect [them] so that if you lose your phone or other things, people can't hack or steal your information.

Q: What are the company's plans for Southeast Missouri in the next little while, quarter, year?

A: Well, we'll continue to upgrade our networks. We'll continue to upgrade all the towers to make sure we have the capacity to handle not only the speeds -- it's one thing to upgrade the towers, which we've done, but we also need fiber capacity to carry all of that data throughout the network, so we'll continue to focus on that. We're always looking at what we can do to improve the customer experience, whether it's at our stores, or through the phone in our call centers. We'll continue to invest more in our fiber to enhance the transport of that data.

Q: Do you have any main competitors in this area?

A: Over in Kansas City, we have Google competing with us and Google Fiber. I think because of the amount of the competition, it really [incentivizes] us to make sure that we stay No. 1. ... That's why we continue to invest and continue to focus on what our customers need.

Q: What is the company's priority right now, and are there any new products or services planned in the near term?

A: We've announced earlier this year our intention to merge with DirecTV that will allow us to enhance our service offering on the video side. Also, we've committed with that we would expand our ... high-speed Internet service to rural parts of Missouri and the country with some of the savings that we're going to realize from that merger. ... Our priority is at this point, obviously, to get that merger approved and then go through the integration of it. But the overall focus is to continually strive to meet what the customers want from us.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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