Alabama AT&T President Fred McCallum brought good news to many AT&T customers in Chilton County hoping for fewer dropped calls and improved cell phone coverage.

“Customers wanted more broadband and more mobility,” McCallum said. “We are in the process of doing just that.”

McCallum spoke during an AT&T statewide investment announcement on Tuesday at the Performing Arts Lobby at Jefferson State Community College Clanton campus.

McCallum, who has worked with AT&T since 1987, spoke about the ever-changing market of technology.

“When I first started with AT&T the big news was when we turned on call waiting,” McCallum said. “The speed of change continues to get faster and faster.”

McCallum spoke about AT&T’s recent announcement of a nearly $1.4 billion investment in Alabama wireless and wireline networks with a focus on expanding 4G LTE (long term evolution) mobile Internet coverage and enhancing the overall performance of its networks, including Chilton County.

“Currently, 40 percent of households are wireless in the country,” McCallum said. “We thought it was not a bad thing to give some good news to people.”

AT&T is also hiring in Alabama with hundreds of jobs available in all areas of the state.

McCallum said the jobs range from retail store employees to outside wire technicians.

The recently launched Project Velocity IP (VIP) is a three-year investment plan to expand and enhance AT&T’s wireless and wired IP broadband networks.

Through the initiative, AT&T plans to expand 4G LTE to cover more than 300 million people by the end of 2014, expand the AT&T wired IP broadband network to cover about 75 percent of customer locations in the wired service area by the end of 2015 and expand the AT&T fiber networks to reach 1 million additional business locations by the end of 2015.

Tuesday’s event in Clanton was one of a series of stops AT&T officials are holding across the state to highlight investment and job growth, including Montgomery, the Shoals, Huntsville, Birmingham and Mobile and rural areas such as Brewton and Jackson.

State Rep. Kurt Wallace and State Sen. Cam Ward both spoke at the event highlighting the news of expanded coverage from AT&T in Chilton County.

“As our communities continue to be more mobile, our work and our lives become more seamless regardless of where we may be,” Wallace said in a release. “This is the latest technology and a major tool for education, economic development and enhancing our quality of life.”

Ward said Clanton is competing with the rest of the world regarding technology, and technology and infrastructure are essential.

“Today, communications technologies are a key ingredient and necessary infrastructure for attracting new jobs and investment,” Ward said in a release. “Not only am I thrilled to have AT&T’s investment in our city and county, I believe that it will lead to more investment and jobs as business naturally goes to cities and areas that are prepared and have the necessary infrastructure to support them.”

For more information about job openings with AT&T, visit www.att.com/jobs.