AT&T Inc. Tuesday announced the expansion of AT&T Yahoo Broadband via Satellite, provided by WildBlue, to homes and businesses across the company’s 22-state wireline footprint, focusing on areas that otherwise have little or no access to a broadband connection.

The announcement marks first-time satellite Internet service availability from AT&T for consumers in the former BellSouth nine-state region, and substantially increases availability to areas not addressed in the company’s previous launch of satellite-based broadband Internet to residential customers in AT&T’s traditional 13-state service territory. The expansion directly supports the company’s effort to deliver broadband service to millions of customers in rural and remote areas, where DSL and cable-modem service are typically not available today, providing an important alternative for customers currently using dial-up service.

“Since we began offering high speed Internet service, our goal has been to make the benefits of broadband available to every home and business in our service footprint,” said Rick Welday, chief marketing officer of AT&T Consumer. “From traditional wireline broadband to satellite-broadband service, our focus continues to be on widescale deployment and availability in both rural and suburban communities alike, where consumers are eager for broadband access,” said Welday.

AT&T Yahoo Broadband via Satellite customers can select from three service packages, starting as low as $54.95 a month, and broadband speed options of up to 1.5 Mbps downstream and up to 256 Kbps upstream.

The satellite-based broadband offering today builds on an initial announcement made in May 2006. Over the past year, AT&T and WildBlue have worked closely to increase capacity and expand access to more customers.

“From our previous launch of satellite-based broadband service, we quickly learned that consumers were eager to embrace this form of high speed Internet access,” said Welday. “Consumers see this as a welcomed alternative to dial-up service, as does AT&T — a valuable technology that further promotes and delivers the benefits and advantages of broadband.”

Rural, satellite-based broadband subscribers will receive direct access to the AT&T Yahoo portal and the leading service features available with AT&T’s broadband service. Customers will benefit from a unique online experience, including differentiated entertainment-related video content; virtually unlimited e-mail storage; an award-winning parental controls offering; industry-leading safety and security features built into an online protection suite; multiple e-mail addresses; and a core offering of customer-driven features, such as online marketing tools, to further customize the online experience.

Customers can receive additional service information and can confirm availability in their area by calling (800) ATT-2020.