Mexico City - At a press conference last week, AT&T CEO, Randall Stephenson, said that AT&T will invest $3 billion to extend its high-speed, mobile Internet service to 100 million people in México by 2018.

AT&T spent about $4.4 billion to buy both Iusacell and the Nextel Mexico mobile system between November and January. AT&T said in January that it plans to create the first North American mobile service area covering more than 400 million consumers and businesses in Mexico and the U.S.

"We plan to offer quality and high speed service in Mexico, creating the first mobile service area in North America. It will reach over 400 million people and businesses in Mexico and the United States. This network will link our countries, economies, peoples and cultures in an unprecedented way," Stephenson said.

AT&T expects that the first phase of its mobile network technology will be completed in the next six months in order to cover 40 million Mexicans, a third of the population. By the end of 2016, the operator expects its mobile network to reach 75 million people, almost two-thirds of the population to achieve reach 100 million people by the end of 2018.

President Enrique Peña Nieto, also in attendance at the press conference, said that the country's recent telecommunications reform enabled such investments.