AT&T Government Solutions won a two-year, $1.8 million contract to install and maintain a new high-speed backbone network for the U.S. Forest Service, the company said today.

The wide area network will link 20 sites in the continental United States, Alaska and Puerto Rico and help the agency tie together its regional offices and data centers. It also will give the agency greater bandwidth and reduce its network costs.

Based in Vienna, Va. AT&T Government Solutions provides IT solutions to the federal government. Its parent company, AT&T Corp. of Bedminster, N.J., had 2003 revenue of $34.5 billion and ranks No. 20 on Washington Technology’s 2004 Top 100 list of prime federal contractors.