If AT&T has its way, Decatur residents will have another option for cable TV.

The company, which operates phone and Internet services here, wants to add Internet-based television and video services. Available in 43 cities but not in Alabama, the service is called U-verse.

In an initial step toward bringing U-verse to Decatur, AT&T Inc. recently submitted a proposed public-benefit agreement with the city, according to AT&T Alabama Regional Manager Dave Hargrove.

Mayor Don Kyle said Wednesday he has received the proposed agreement. He said he will review it after the city’s legal office completes its review.

The company also has contacted Athens officials about entering into a public-benefit agreement.

AT&T already has a statewide franchise for its telephone lines. According to a state attorney general’s opinion issued in December, the franchise is broad enough to permit the company to upgrade its transmission facilities to include Internet-based video services.

The 10-year public-benefit agreement provides that the city would receive up to 5 percent of gross revenues from AT&T’s use of city right of way for the transmissions.

“We feel the cities should benefit financially because they have to maintain the rights of way and they have some other costs,” Hargrove said.

Cable companies like Charter must pay a portion of their revenue to the city for use of the right of way, also.

“We’re willing to pay fees comparable to what cable pays, even though we are not a cable service,” said AT&T Alabama spokeswoman Terri Denard.

The agreement also provides that AT&T would offer public, educational and government programming over its system.

“It utilizes our existing network,” Hargrove said. “Basically what we would do is go in and upgrade our network to enable the high bandwidth that video requires.”

The service generally comes to the consumer’s home through an Internet connection of between 1.5 and 10 megabytes per second.

Upload speeds are 1.5 megabytes per second. It includes wireless home networking, so consumers can view U-verse on multiple televisions or computers.

The upgrades include adding fiber-optic cable and adding electronic components that permit the video to use the same network now used for voice and data services.

“You’ll see similar programming to what the cable companies offer, but ours is more interactive,” Hargrove said.

Among the capabilities of the service, which AT&T calls U-verse: