Wilmington Municipal Services District Designated as AT&T Fiber Ready

WILMINGTON, N.C., March 16, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Wilmington area's growing technology reputation scored another "first" today as representatives of AT&T*, the City of Wilmington and Wilmington Downton Inc. announced that the Wilmington Municipal Services District has been designated AT&T Fiber Ready.

Wilmington is the first municipal services district in the country to receive the designation. Last year, the ILM Business Park became the first international airport business park in the country designated AT&T Fiber Ready. The Pender County Industrial Park, on the border of New Hanover and Pender counties, received the first AT&T Fiber Ready designation in the state.

In a global economy, connectivity is vital to new employers and businesses of every type. The AT&T Fiber Ready designation helps economic development leaders more effectively position their communities for site selection by emphasizing the availability of high-speed, fiber-based services.

"For businesses, fiber is the future, and in Wilmington, the future is now," said Mayor Bill Saffo. "This designation will be particularly appealing to tech innovators and will help make us a preferred destination for entrepreneurs looking for business opportunities coupled with a quality of life that is second-to-none."

"We are in direct competition with large cities and metro regions across this country for the technology-driven jobs of the future," said House Representative Deb Butler.  "Economic growth today depends on the availability of advanced technology and fiber-optic-based communications.  These certifications tell the world that the Cape Fear region is ready to help businesses grow and succeed in a global, online economy." 

The AT&T fiber network provides the bandwidth needed to support data intensive services such as video, collaboration, cloud services and more through products such as Ethernet, Virtual Private Networking, Managed Internet Service and AT&T Business Fiber. Customers can complement their high-speed Internet with network security options and online backup to help protect and virtualize their business-critical information.

"While entrepreneurs appreciate the amenities, atmosphere and history of our downtown, the ready availability of fiber optic facilities and services is a major concern for businesses of all sizes," said Ed Wolverton, President and CEO of Wilmington Downtown, Inc. "This designation tells existing businesses and new prospects considering a downtown location that the highways for commerce and success in the Information Age, fiber optics, are already in place just outside their door." 

In North Carolina, the AT&T fiber network includes more than 2.3 million strand miles. AT&T offers business customers high-speed Internet products on its fiber network in every major metro in the company's 21-state footprint.

"We are excited to welcome the Wilmington Municipal Services District to the list of places across North Carolina where AT&T's fiber infrastructure is in place and ready to help local businesses grow," said John Lyon, regional director of external affairs for AT&T North Carolina. "Every day, AT&T's employees use our billions of dollars of investment to deliver high-speed Internet for consumers and businesses. Those investments are possible in large part because of the smart, pro-investment policies championed by our state leaders and by local leaders such as Mayor Saffo and Chairman White."

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. T helps millions around the globe connect with leading entertainment, mobile, high speed Internet and voice services. We're the world's largest provider of pay TV. We have TV customers in the U.S. and 11 Latin American countries. And we help businesses worldwide serve their customers better with our mobility and highly secure cloud solutions.

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SOURCE AT&T Inc.