Mobile broadband takes center stage as AT&T pours hundreds of millions of dollars into its Alaska wired and wireless networks. The company made more than 300 upgrades in Alaska between 2009 and 2011 including increased capacity and speed the Juneau area.

“With customers using more and more data on their smartphones, a project was completed to double wireless capacity on the network in the Downtown Juneau area,” AT&T spokesperson Anne Marshall said in an email interview. “When we talk about increasing capacity, it’s like adding lanes to a highway. This improves speed for customers.”

Marshall said customers are using more and more data. And they are using it in new, more interactive ways.

AT&T customers uploaded 40 percent more data than they downloaded during the 2012 Superbowl. Accounting for 215GB of data used in the Lucas Oil Stadium were “pictures and taunting messages to friends who weren’t lucky enough to experience the game live,” Marshall said. With the New York Giants beating the Patriots, there apparently was a lot of taunting — almost three quarters of a million text messages sent and received during the game.

What about AT&T’s new hot product, the 4G LTE?

Marshall said she could not give a specific date. She did say AT&T expected its speedy mobile broadband 4G LTE to be available in all markets by the end of 2013.

“Our goal is to deliver a network experience that mobilizes everything for customers,” Mike Maxwell, vice president and general manager at AT&T, said in a press release. “The ongoing investment we’re making in Alaska is designed to increase coverage and reliability and to provide advanced 4G services to our customers.”

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• Contact reporter Russell Stigall at 523-2276 or at russell.stigall@juneauempire.com.