By Submarine Cable NewsFeed

AT&T Inc. has announced plans to

invest $1 billion in 2008 to continue the expansion of AT&T's industry-leading network and portfolio of solutions for multinational companies with operations

and applications in key markets worldwide.

The 2008 program – which is 33 percent more than last year's enterprise investment and more than double

AT&T's investment in 2006 – is being driven by demand for Internet Protocol (IP) networks and services as companies deal with the explosive surge in data,

voice and video traffic made possible by the proliferation of high speed networks and devices worldwide.

Responding to this demand, AT&T is accelerating

its efforts to:

-Extend its global network reach and capacity -Globalize its portfolio of business services -Embed the latest utility computing and

other technologies in the network so that companies can deliver real-time applications to their customers, suppliers and partners.

In 2008 AT&T plans to

invest in:

-New submarine fiber optic cable capacity to Japan and Asia, increasing diversity and reliability on these critical routes. This would include

increased investments in multiple submarine cable systems into South East Asia and Australia, investment in several submarine cable system upgrades to significantly

grow capacity on multiples routes in the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico, as well as submarine investments on existing cables servicing India and the Middle East.

These submarine investments will be used to extend AT&T's intelligent optical network into Europe and Asia with optical mesh restoration. -New core MPLS

routers in Europe, Asia and the U.S., and the expansion of access to AT&T's global network with new or additional MPLS based IP network access nodes in Europe

(Paris, Moscow), the Middle East (Kuwait), India (New Delhi, Kolkata), Japan, Asia (Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore), and Central America (Guatemala). -New network-

to-network connections to extend network reach into high growth markets in Asia Pacific (India, Australia), Eastern Europe (Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Mongolia)

and South America. -Enhanced Ethernet network capabilities with the rollout of a global virtual private local area network solution, initially in the U.S.,

Europe and Asia Pacific. In 2008 AT&T plans to make these services available in 14 cities – Frankfurt, London, Brussels, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm,

Dublin/Cork, Milan, Madrid and Zurich in Europe; and Hong Kong, Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo in Asia Pacific. By year-end 2008, AT&T expects to have an Ethernet

footprint in 39 countries. -Adding DSL as an emerging access alternative to China, Finland, Norway and Saudi Arabia. By year-end, DSL will be available as an

access alternative in 21 countries. -Increasing data center hosting capacity with an additional 180,000 square feet of global capacity by mid 2009 throughout the

38 data centers AT&T has deployed globally. Expansion targets in 2008 will include space augmentation in Singapore, Amsterdam, Boston and Dallas. -New

application performance management tools within AT&T's industry-leading AT&T BusinessDirect® portal to help companies manage and monitor their networks

and services online, giving them greater control and flexibility. -Integrating and developing unified communications capabilities made possible by the recent

acquisition of Interwise, a global provider of Web-based and audio conferencing services to accelerate AT&T's move into the unified communications space. –

Integrating the global network operations and processes acquired through AT&T's recently expanded networking agreement with IBM, thus enabling greater scope

and scale than ever before. -Offering global IP-based audio-conferencing services with in-country dial-in access from more than 140 countries, with in-language

support.