Open Access - UTOPIA

UTOPIAis an intergovernmental agency, founded in 2002. It is made up of 14cities in western Utah, representing about one-third of the state'spopulation. UTOPIA plans to build a fiber-to-the-home network that willdeliver speeds of at least 100 Mbps to every home and business in eachmember city.

A number of Utah municipalities beganconsidering fiber optics in 2000, as part of infrastructure upgradesfor the 2002 Olympics. The city of Provo, dissatisfied with the speedand price offered by the incumbent cable and telephone companies,purchased a locally owned cable company which it used as the foundationfor its municipal fiber optic network. The other cities moved forwardwith UTOPIA.

AT&T challenged Provo and UTOPIA atthe state legislature in 2001. Compromise legislation was passed thatbans cities from selling retail broadband services, but allowing themsell wholesale access to publicly owned networks. AT&T eventuallybecame the anchor tenant on the UTOPIA network, after it sold its owncable assets. Qwest, on the other hand, has continued to file legalchallenges against the network.

UTOPIA owns,operates and maintains the infrastructure. Construction of the networkwas started with $85 million in bonds. The total cost of the system isprojected to be $470 million. Each municipality will issue revenuebonds for its portion of the overall investment. Service will beinstalled in cities in the order in which they approve funds. Revenuesfrom selling access to private service providers will be used to payoperating expenses and retire the bonds. Utopia anticipates positivecash flow in the first ten years, possibly reaching the break-evenpoint for operations and debt service by year seven.

Privateservice providers lease capacity on the network. UTOPIA expects privateservice providers will eventually use its network to offer high-speedInternet access, HDTV, video on demand, medical monitoring,teleconferencing, and phone service. Community services will includecommunity programming on demand, traffic monitoring, meter-reading, andadvanced communications for emergency services.

UTOPIA'scables now pass about 15,000 homes and businesses. One serviceprovider, MStar, offers Internet service at speeds of 10 Mbps, for bothuploads and downloads, for $40 per month.

Thenetwork will benefit not only those who subscribe to it, but also thosewho subscribe to the incumbent cable and telephone companies' services.Already, Comcast has lowered its price for a 4 Mbps connection to $30per month in UTOPIA cities, compared to $46 per month in non-UTOPIAcities.

More Information:

• UTOPIA - Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency
• UTOPIA Means Competition, Choice and Lower Prices - UTOPIA Team Email, August 2005
• Free UTOPIA Blog