AT&T raising U-verse spending forecast

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top phone company AT&T Inc on Tuesday raised its spending forecast for its high-speed Internet and video service called U-verse by $500 million.

AT&T said it expects total spending on the service from January 2007 through the end of 2008 to be between $4.5 billion and $5.0 billion, with the new spending largely in the Southeast region.

An AT&T spokesman said it expects to make U-verse, which aims to compete with cable providers' all-in-one packages of Internet, phone and video, available to around 17 million homes by the end of 2008, with significant expansion in following years.

(Reporting by Ritsuko Ando, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)