AT&T to hire 100 technicians in NC, 10 in Charlotte
AT&T said it is hiring 100 full-time technicians in North Carolina, including 10 in Charlotte, in part to help support the development of its planned superfast broadband service.
The telecom company announced plans six months ago to expand its GigaPower network in Charlotte, though a launch date and pricing details haven’t been released. AT&T already offers Gigapower in the Raleigh metro area and plans to expand into Durham and Greensboro as well.
AT&T’s announcement comes just days after Google said it will build its Google Fiber network in Charlotte. Both companies said their fiber-optic networks will offer speeds up to 100 times faster than typical Internet services.
GigaPower, according to AT&T, will download 25 songs in a second, a TV show in less than three seconds and a high-definition online movie in less than 36 seconds.
Another competitor, Time Warner Cable, has said it plans to deploy faster Internet speeds and enhanced TV service to Charlotte and six other metro areas. The company said it will upgrade this year to speeds up to six times faster than its current broadband service in Charlotte, Raleigh, Dallas, Hawaii, Kansas City, San Antonio and San Diego.
Josh Gelinas, a public relations manager for AT&T, said Google’s announcement did not prompt the latest hiring wave. Technicians will work on the GigaPower rollout, Gelinas said, but they will also work on other services such as U-Verse.
“We welcome Google’s announcement because we welcome competition in the marketplace,” Gelinas said. “GigaPower is a service that customers have shown interest in, so it’s important that we bring in some good employees to help with the expansion.”
In addition to the technician jobs, AT&T is also hiring for 200 business sales and call center jobs in North Carolina, the company said in a statement. The company employs more than 6,700 in North Carolina.
This story was originally published January 30, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "AT&T to hire 100 technicians in NC, 10 in Charlotte."