POMEROY — AT&T announced Monday it had installed two new cellular sites in Meigs County that will provide enhanced wireless coverage to users in Middleport and Syracuse, and New Haven, W.Va. and Hartford, W.Va.

The new Syracuse cell site will also provide continuous wireless coverage along Ohio 124 from Pomeroy to Racine.

The Middleport site provides coverage to the town of Middleport and continuous coverage on Ohio 7 between Cheshire, Point Pleasant and Pomeroy along the Ohio River.

“We appreciate AT&T’s investments to enhance its wireless coverage in Meigs County,” said Ohio Senator Jimmy Stewart, R-Albany. “Enhanced wireless connectivity provides us with better access to essential services and it also helps improve our quality of life.”

The new cell site is one part of AT&T’s ongoing efforts to drive innovation and extend its mobile network, the company said.

“It is also part of our ongoing investment to build the broadband networks that will fuel economic growth and create jobs, and enable AT&T’s customers to quickly access the content, applications and services that matter most to them.”

“A vast number of residents as well as businesses in the area will be able to profit from reliable cell service for communication and commerce,” said State Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens.

AT&T’s mobile broadband network is based on the Global System for Mobile standard, the most open and widely used wireless network platforms in the world. AT&T offers data roaming in more than 170 countries, as well as voice calling in more than 215 countries.

“Expanding the wireless network across the state is a priority in 2009, particularly in rural areas where our customers have asked us for new technology resources,” said Tom Pelto, president of AT&T Ohio.

From 2006-2008, AT&T’s total capital investment in its wireless and wireline networks in Ohio was more than $1.8 billion.