What’s new: In Iowa, we invested nearly $300 million in our network from 2021-2025 to build more infrastructure and power more opportunity.

Communities throughout Iowa are seeing the impacts of this investment, including:

• Nearly $100 million in Des Moines and West Des Moines 
• Nearly $50 million in Davenport-Moline-Rock Island 
• More than $15 million in Cedar Rapids 

But there’s more: In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Alexander Graham Bell’s first telephone call, we recently announced an investment and spend of more than $250 billion in the future of U.S. advanced connectivity, building the high-speed networks and resilience required for the next era of innovation and economic growth.

Why it matters: Connectivity is the backbone of America’s innovation economy, shaping our daily life and supporting the safety and resilience of communities nationwide. By investing in communities across the country, we’re helping expand access, strengthen infrastructure, and unlock greater economic opportunity for Americans—fueling business growth, creating jobs, and helping more people participate in the modern economy. 

How we’re making it happen in Iowa: Committed to expanding connectivity, our investment focuses on all facets of the network—including fiber, 5G and FirstNet,® Built with AT&T.

• Expanding access to fiber: Last year, we announced a milestone acquisition of substantially all of Lumen’s Mass Market’s fiber internet connectivity business. With the closure of this transaction, we’re extending our industry-leading fiber network with plans to reach approximately 60 million total fiber locations by year-end 2030. That means that in Iowa, we’re expanding our fiber offerings to more places, like Des Moines and West Des Moines. 
  • This June, we announced that AT&T Fiber is now available in the Greater Des Moines area for the first time, serving parts of Dallas, Polk and Warren Counties. The arrival provides more than 105,000 residential and business locations access to fast, reliable internet. 
  • As a result of the Lumen deal, AT&T plans to increase our Iowa fiber build plans by more than 50 percent compared to 2025. 
• Building networks for the next century: To reach our goal and help our customers upgrade to faster, more reliable services, we’re actively investing in modern networks that will power us for the next century. We’re working to exit copper-based services in the majority of our wireline footprint by the end of 2029. Throughout this transition, no customer will lose access to voice or 911 services. We’re here to make the transition from copper to new technology like wireless and AT&T Phone-Advanced, a digital phone service that uses our reliable wireless network and any broadband connection as a backup, as easy as possible for our customers.
• Unlocking the power of 5G: From rural communities to urban areas, our overall wireless voice and data network covers more than 99% of all Americans, including Iowa. Our 5G network using low-band spectrum reaches more than 320 million people in more than 27,700 cities and towns in the U.S.
  • We’re ramping up performance in high traffic areas, like airports, stadiums and venues. 
  • For less densely populated areas like Lake City, Pella and Dyersville, we’re expanding our 5G network so people there can have access to reliable connectivity.
  • And we’re also working with AST SpaceMobile to offer a full suite of broadband connectivity: voice, data, and text in remote, off-grid locations. One day it may also support video services.  
• Connectivity when it matters the most: As public safety’s partner, more first responders choose FirstNet to reliably communicate than any other network. The largest network for public safety with nearly 3M square miles of coverage, we are building a network with and for public safety—giving them the reliable, dedicated connectivity they need when and where they need it. We’re continuing to expand FirstNet with purpose-built FirstNet sites— based on direct public safety feedback and network considerations — focused on rural, tribal and remote areas of the country. We are also launching the first mission-critical push-to-talk platform (PTT), FirstNet Fusion, that can connect teams across virtually any radio system or wireless carrier. A secure, one-stop shop for emergency response coordination, Fusion will eliminate complexities around group communication and bring together critical communications capabilities.
  • In Iowa, we’re connecting public safety agencies and organizations in nearly 590 localities across the state, including Ames, Ankeny, Cedar Rapids, Council Bluffs, Davenport, Des Moines, Dubuque, Iowa City, Sioux City, and Waterloo. 
  • We’ve rolled out Band 14 on nearly 770 sites across Iowa to provide public safety with truly dedicated coverage and capacity.

And we’re not just investing in our network; we’re also investing in our communities. AT&T has committed $5 billion by 2030 to narrow the digital divide and help 25 million people get and stay connected to affordable, high-speed internet access and digital resources. 

To help bridge the digital divide in Des Moines, AT&T recently teamed up with Camp Fire Heart of Iowa to deliver 300 refurbished laptops to students who need reliable devices to keep learning – at school and at home. Read more. 

To keep up with all the latest updates from AT&T Iowa, follow us on X @ATTPublicPolicy and on LinkedIn.