Shortly after Google Fiber announced a pause in its network expansion as well as layoffs{/a}} and a change in CEO, AT&T responded Thursday with a blog post and provided other information that, together, take thinly disguised shots at its rival.

For example, AT&T boasted how far and fast its network has grown in the Triangle and elsewhere. This is the latest in flame wars between the two companies who have feuded quite bluntly in recent months.

“With the launch of AT&T Internet 1000 to over 150,000 locations in the Triangle, AT&T has positioned Raleigh-Durham as a gigabit region by bringing customers our fastest internet speeds,” a spokesperson says. GF recently launched service in Morrisville but says it will expand the network to several other Triangle cities.

Internet 1000 is the new name recently unveiled for what had been known as GigaPower.

GF disclosed its expansion slowdown Tuesday night but a spokesperson later said the Triangle was among the markets where the company would continue construction.

In a blog Thursday, AT&T’s Eric Boyer, who is Senior Vice President for Wired and Wireless Products and Services, wrote:

“What some of our competitors are just starting to realize (one after 6 years and only 8 metros [Google Fiber]) is that this endeavor is challenging. Connecting customers at scale and investing capital today in the future of connectivity is a big deal. Expanding the availability of faster wired and wireless speeds begins with a conversation with cities and customers – not a checklist dictating terms or by pushing cities to enact lopsided legislation.”

“Lopsided legislation” refers to a city ordinance in Nashville where GF wants faster access to utility poles. Another fight is underway in Louisville.

Last month, an AT&T blog sniffed at GF: “Pardon our dust.”

The headline of Boyer’s blog says AT&T is delivering, GF is not:

“Does the Unfulfilled Promise of an Internet Provider Leave You Searching for Another Option?”

Boyer then spells out what AT&T has done with fiber over the past three years and plans in the near future:

  • Demand continues to exceed our expectations.
  • The number of Internet subscribers has “doubled” in “many metros”
  • Almost half these customers are “new to AT&T”
  • 40 metro area fiber footprint
  • 5 more “by the end of 2016”
  • Commitments to 67 metros in all
  • More than 1 million route miles of fiber
  • Over 3 million locations reached
  • More than 12.5 million locations “planned by mid-2019”

GF has expressed concerns about the high costs of installing fiber and is exploring wireless deliveries (the Triangle will be a test market). AT&T is looking into wireless as well.

Boyer points out that AT&T has mad “a hefty investment” both in money and “time and sweat by employees.”

“We don’t take shortcuts,” Boyer wrote. “This is about good old-fashioned hard work, not new-age marketing promises that fall short in the end.”

Read the full blog at:

http://about.att.com/inside_connections_blog/internet_provider