AT&T has announced that they will spend $14 billion over the next three years to upgrade their wireless and wireline IP broadband networks. The investment plan, Project Velocity IP, will support growing customer demand for high-speed Internet access and new mobile, app, and cloud services. According to Randall Stephenson, AT&T chairman and chief executive officer: This is a major commitment to invest in 21st Century communications infrastructure for the United States and bring high-speed Internet connectivity — 4G LTE mobile and wireline IP broadband — to millions more Americans. Once fully implemented, Project Velocity IP is expected to bring: 4G LTE network expansion expected to cover 300 million people by year-end 2014 Wired IP broadband network expected to expand to 75 percent of customer locations in AT&T’s 22-state wireline service area by year-end 2015 Fiber deployment expected to reach 1 million additional business customer locations, covering 50 percent of multi-tenant office buildings in AT&T’s wireline service area by year-end 2015 99 percent of customer locations in wireline service area expected to have high-speed IP Internet access via IP wireline and/or 4G LTE As a longtime AT&T customer, I’m thrilled by this news. It is nice to see the nation’s second largest cellular company making the commitment.

A U.S. court has determined that Apple should pay damages to a Connecticut-based company because their FaceTime video chat tool infringed on the firm’s patents. As such, Apple must pay VirnetX $368.2 million, according to Patently Apple.

VirnetX had alleged that four of its patents – registered between 2002 and 2011 – had been infringed by the company’s desktop, laptop, tablet and smartphone computers. Each runs FaceTime and the company’s instant messenger service, iMessage.

While Apple can no doubt pay the award mentioned above, the ruling could have more serious consequences. VirnetX has threatened to block the further use of their innovations in Apple’s products.

This ruling comes just as VirnetX filed another lawsuit against Cupertino, this one over VPN on-demand functionality in Mountain Lion.

Apple has yet to comment on either case.

Source: Patently Apple