AT&T To Offer Satellite Broadband In Rural Areas

Many homes and businesses on the wrong side of the rural digital divide will soon be able to obtain broadband service through an expansion of AT&T Yahoo Broadband, which AT&T said Wednesday will soon be available via satellite in its 22-state footprint.

AT&T said the service -- provided by WildBlue " will be focused on areas that currently have no or meager access to either DSL or cable broadband.

The offer, which is available starting at $54.95 a month, will be the first time satellite Internet service will be available from AT&T for customers in the former BellSouth nine-state region; the satellite service will also be expanded in AT&T's traditional 13-state region.

"Since we began offering high-speed Internet service, our goal has been to make the benefits of broadband available to every home and business in our service footprint," said Rick Welday, chief marketing officer of AT&T's consumer unit. "From traditional wireline broadband to satellite-broadband service, our focus continues to be on wide-scale deployment and availability in both rural and suburban communities."

Broadband speeds of the service will begin at 1.5 Mbps downstream and 256 Kbps upstream, AT&T said.