•   
• 

AT&T begins cell, network expansions

 

New cell sites and improvements to existing third-generation mobile broadband network are under way in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland counties, AT&T said last week.

“They’re fast-growing areas in the New York metro market,” said Tom DeVito, vice president and general manager, AT&T Mobility, New York and New Jersey. “It’s a good demographic; there are lots of businesses … we had good service there, but wanted great service.”

A combination of factors – drive test results, independent drive tests and performance statistics – determined network expansion, according to the company.

“As a company and market area, we’re committed to network and product,” DeVito said. “We’re constantly looking across the board, how our customers experience our network and always looking to improve that performance.”

“It’s part of our ongoing commitment to quality service,” concurred Mike Maus, executive director of network services for New York and New Jersey, saying AT&T “spent $975 million on network in the Northeast from 2006 to 2008.”

“The health and stability of AT&T as a whole allows us to fund these capital expansions; not many can do that in this economic time,” Maus said.

Though Maus said a precise date of completion of the expansions is unknown, “the overall program is under way.”

New cell sites are planned along: the Taconic State Parkway and Route 6 in Putnam; the Palisades Parkway in the Stony Point area of Rockland; Routes 9W and 304 in Rockland; and the Sprain Brook and Saw Mill River Parkways and Routes 684, 9, 100 and I-87, all in Westchester.

On the retail end, Ellen Webner, spokeswoman, said an AT&T Mobility store at 1404 Union Ave. in Newburgh is moving to Newburgh Towne Center at 1433 Route 300.

“The new store will be 5,000 square feet and will have a device support center within the full-service location,” Webner said. The Newburgh Towne Center location is expected to be open to the public “later in the second quarter.”

Add Comment