Qwest Threatens New UTOPIA Lawsuit, Wants to Block Centerville RDA Funds

5 Responses to Qwest Threatens New UTOPIA Lawsuit, Wants to Block Centerville RDA Funds

1. Andrea says:

   December 12, 2008 at 6:16 pm

   Let’s see. First, UTOPIA was going to be profitable and would not need to be subsidized. Now, they want RDA money. Note: this is a subsidy.

   Second, UTOPIA was going to be ubiquitous. Now, they’re not, at least not anytime soon.

   Third, UTOPIA’s bond commitments were no risk for taxpayers. Now, they’ve had to refinance, basically punting on the day of reckoning.

   And it’s all Qwest’s fault.

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2. luminous says:

   December 12, 2008 at 9:50 pm

   Considering qwests actions over the past few years both to Utopia and to their customers in general. has shown that they have little regard for the customers they serve, providing the level of service required for Utah’s economy to grow as a whole.

   Remember that Utopia came after qwest turned down an offer by the city’s to pay qwest for installing fiber.

   Given i disagree with the way Utopia was sold to the city’s as being risk free, I do not disagree with Utopia We need it badly. Personly if it where up to me i think we otta just use tax money to build it out rather then using complex loan/bond structer they are using now.

   I would say that blame for Utopia’s so far performance can be evenly split 3 ways between qwest, political everyone wants a slice now me’ism, and yes mismanagement.

   Qwest has attacked Utopia with blantly wrong law suites costing Utopia millions of tax payer dollars with now chance of recovery of those lost funds.
   Qwest lobby’ed heavily for laws that greatly encumbered efforts by city’s to build Utopia in the first place. Then Qwest sued Utopia for using Queststar, and Utah power poles claiming all the poles as theirs even ones that where clearly marked as not theirs, this prevented Utopia from building out to anywhere that used poles during that time(short list fyi). I will also note that qwest did not win any of these law suites they where merely dragged out as long as possible then settled at the latest opportunity.

   Remember Qwest is not your friend this is a corporation that has been found guilty of accounting fraud, misuse of the FUSF tax(to the tune of 250million dollars atleast that we know about how much did Utopia cost us again? heh), Has refused to install broadband DSL to many business centers in utah forcing Utah business to pay outrageous prices for connectivity in layton a T1(1.5meg) line will set you back 3500-4500$ per month before tax’s.

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3. luminous says:

   December 13, 2008 at 3:12 am

   also note Qwests anti competitive nature extends beyond Muni’s trying to provide their citizens with modern utility infrastructure.

   http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/SkyWi-Sues-Qwest-Racketeering-Monopolistic/story.aspx?guid={4118C3E4-CBC0-4B7B-ABA0-9E041B08A68A}

   for example. Can’t wait for that future when services like verizon Fios, At&t Uverse and Qwest FTTN put company’s like xmission out of business due to lack of access to customers, As these new services are all exclusive to their respective company’s and are not available with third party ISP’s.

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4. Mensch says:

   December 13, 2008 at 12:31 pm

   No one is saying it’s all Qwest’s fault, Andrea, but we are saying their business tactics are pathetic and smack of desperation.

   Reply
5. Don says:

   December 13, 2008 at 6:04 pm

   I actually do think that the ‘big picture’ would be quite different without the meddling of Qwest and Comcast.
   Had they not interfered initially, this project could have had a more profitable structure than the current service provider structure.

   Reply