In a development that local leaders said would improve the area’s competitiveness in attracting high-tech business, the Wilmington International Airport’s business park is the first in the nation to be certified for high-speed fiber broadband, local leaders announced.
The airport’s business park was certified as AT&T Fiber Ready on April 26, which the company and New Hanover County officials said gives the business park an edge for attracting new business. While a business park in Pender County has already received the certification, AT&T officials said ILM is the first business park at an airport to get the certification.
“We will be a cyber gateway for the virtual products which move in the marketplaces of the information age,” said Beth Dawson, New Hanover County Board of Commissioners chair, who was among several local political and business leaders at the airport for Tuesday’s announcement. “To attract quality businesses with good-paying jobs, you have to have the infrastructure available.”
Fiber-optic broadband is available through telecommunications providers across the region, as even most county buildings are wired for fiber, but the certification at the business park means that businesses set up shop at the airport’s business park “knowing that fiber is already in the ground,” AT&T regional director John Lyons said.
The infrastructure upgrade provides internet speeds of 300 megabytes per second and will eventually reach speeds of up to 1,000 megabytes (1 gigabyte) per second, said Lyons, who added that AT&T is only building out the fiber network in areas that show strong growth potential.
Lyons also gave a nod to Wilmington’s efforts to get Google to build its fiber network in the region in 2010, when Mayor Bill Saffo said he would “jump out of an airplane” to get the internet giant to invest.
“While some companies are teasing communities that they might be coming, AT&T is putting the shovel to the ground,” Lyons said. “I could say fiber is the future but really, fiber is the present.”
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