Limestone County Economic Development Association president Tom Hill and Regional Director-State Legislative and Regulatory Affairs with AT&T Alabama Dave Hargrove sign the declaration saying Breeding Industrial Park, Elm Industrial Park and Southpoint Business Park are all AT&T Fiber Ready.

In attempts at bringing more industry to the area, the Limestone County Economic Development Association said Monday three industrial parks are now certified as AT&T Fiber Ready.

This advancement means that a company can come to Breeding Industrial Park, Elm Industrial Park or Southpoint Business Park and have communications and Internet support through AT&T.

Limestone County Economic Development Association president Tom Hill said companies, like Asahi Kasei, who came to the area in 2014, want to know that the area is equipped with communication services.

“This allows us to tell companies when they move to the site that they have the material they need through fiber ready optic cables through AT&T,” he said. “It helps us market to companies that need the fiber cables for their business.”

Hill said Monday’s announcement will aid in bringing more jobs and infrastructure to Limestone County.

“It will absolutely help bring more companies and jobs,” he said.

The fiber networks provide the bandwidth needed to support data intensive services such as video, collaboration and cloud services through products such as Ethernet, Virtual Private Networking, Managed Internet Service and AT&T Business Fiber — all essential to most modern businesses wanting to start up.

“When we started economic development, all the infrastructure needed was a road, gas, sewer, water and telephone,” Hill said. “Companies now need fast communications and Internet.”

Hill said economic development takes help from elected officials and educators.

“The workforce and economic development go hand-in-hand,” he said.

Regional Director-State Legislative and Regulatory Affairs with AT&T Alabama Dave Hargrove said AT&T Limestone County has leaders and public policy in place so that businesses want to invest their corporations and bring work to the community.

“We’re listening to economic leaders about what they need to be productive,” he said. “Companies who are looking to come here and come here can have high speed internet — our goal is to support the workforce and community.”