Wilmington International Airport has achieved a first, officials said Tuesday morning.

The ILM Business Park is the first international airport business park in the nation to receive AT&T Fiber Ready certification, John Lyon announced at a news conference at the airport. Lyon, AT&T’s regional director of external affairs, said that many people consider fiber the future, but in reality, “fiber is the present.”

“North Carolina is ‘First in Flight’; now Wilmington International Airport is ‘First in Fiber,” he said.

Lyon said that he had worked with Carol LeTellier, ILM’s new business development director, to arrange for the installation of the fiber network cabling to the business park. Facility tenants now “can come knowing fiber is ready,” he said. “[Prospects] can check off fiber readiness as they narrow down their decisions.”

High-speed connectivity is necessary for business sites that “want to make it down to the bottom of the funnel” with prospective tenants, said LeTellier, who joined ILM in early March and initiated the fiber project with AT&T her second week on the job.

ILM can use the certification in its branding and marketing efforts as it works to attract more tenants to its flexspace and other properties, Lyon explained.

Now that the fiber has been run to one location on the property, AT&T can extend the cable to other entities on the airport grounds free of charge, Lyon explained. He said that Enterprise Rent A Car has already requested fiber to speed up its computer system and thereby improve its customer service. The airport itself is considering connecting to the high-speed fiber, according to airport director Julie Wilsey.

Once cable is extended, Enterprise and any other connected entity can choose any speed of service from 25 to 300 megabits per second, Lyon said.

Scott Satterfield, CEO of Wilmington Business Development, spoke of the necessity of having fiber connections to offer prospective new businesses.

“It’s no longer enough to have a road, a gas line and a rail spur,” he said Tuesday. “You need reliable, affordable fiber.”

Satterfield joined New Hanover County Airport Authority chairman Jonathan Crane, Wilmington mayor Bill Saffo and New Hanover County Board of Commissioners chairwoman Beth Dawson in welcoming the certification announcement.

“As the home of North Carolina’s largest port, and an international airport, New Hanover County is a gateway for global commerce,” Dawson said at the event. “Through advanced communications technology, we will also be a cyber-gateway for the virtual products which move in the information age marketplace. This designation gives our economic developers a powerful tool as they work to attract new jobs and establish this region as a premier hub for global business.”
 
While AT&T has been expanding its fiber service since 2012, it launched its Fiber Ready Certification program just last year. Pender Commerce Park became the first fiber-ready business park in North Carolina in October.

Tuesday's announcement came at the conclusion of a joint meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners and the New Hanover County Airport Authority to review the airport's achievements in 2015 and prospects for 2016.