AT&T Addresses Cellphone Coverage Issues in SM

AT&T Director of Communications Lane Kasselman recently spoke with Santa Monica Patch about cellphone coverage issues in Santa Monica, the impact the iPhone has had on phone networks, and the company's efforts to buy competitor T-Mobile. Below is an edited and condensed version of the interview.

Santa Monica Patch: . Many of them say they can't make a call, or a complete call. How are you addressing the coverage issue in Santa Monica?

Lane Kasselman: There are the two issues we have: coverage and capacity. In California, it takes about two years, on average, to build a cell site. In cities like Santa Monica, it takes a while to get through the regulatory approval process. Contrast that with Texas, where it takes two weeks to build a cell site.

To build out a network to the size we need it [to be] would take about eight years in California. So there's an easier way for us, and that is to acquire somebody else's. That's [why we're trying to] buy T-Mobile. They're going out of business. Buying T-Mobile would almost double the amount of infrastructure we'd have in Santa Monica.

[Also,] we're both benefitting and suffering [from] the consequences of the iPhone. The iPhone really changed consumer habits. In the past four years, there's been an 8,000 percent growth on the network.

We've heard our customers. We can't change that experience without adding more infrastructure.

Patch: Why wasn't the infrastructure developed before AT&T began offering service for the iPhone?

Kasselman: You have to think about it in terms of beyond the borders of Santa Monica. We offer a myriad of products, and there's a lot of places where our network is great. You also have densely populated areas, like Santa Monica, where people are suffering.

Would it make sense to offer the next latest and greatest device in Nebraska but not Los Angeles? [People] don't want that. Santa Monica has some of the most sophisticated folks, so they want the newest, the best, the fastest, the latest devices.

It's not like service doesn't work in Santa Monica. That's not the case. It does work. If folks are concerned about getting coverage in their house, which I understand, then they need to call the [California Public Utilities Commission] or e-mail the [Securities and Exchange Commission] and say, "Hurry up and approve [the merger]."

If customers have a problem, there's a free app called "Mark the Spot." You mark the spot where you have a problem, and we get all the network data on what you just experienced. If it's an area where you don't have coverage, it tracks your location, and then updates it when you get service.

Patch: So, where are the strongest and weakest reception areas in Santa Monica?

Kasselman: I don't know that we're going to release that data. That's proprietary. But we do use the data.