Category Archives: Communications

Letters sent to elected and appointed officials encouraging them to do what’s best for UTOPIA.

Campaign 2008: Finding UTOPIA-Friendly Candidates

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One of the biggest problems facing supporters of municipal broadband projects is a distinct lack of information on where a candidate stands. All too often, you'll only find out where they are after it's too late and we get an SB66 heaped upon us. To that end, I've decided that it's time that we know which candidates are UTOPIA-friendly and which ones are not.

On March 7, the candidate registration period for state and county offices opened up. It'll close on March 17. At that point, I'm going to send the following list of questions to each candidate and post their responses on the wiki.

  1. Do you generally support or oppose projects like UTOPIA and iProvo?
  2. What is the basis for your support or opposition?
  3. Is your support or opposition based on the general concept or specific implementations used in UTOPIA and/or iProvo?
  4. What is your position on the regulation of incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) such as Qwest?
  5. What is your position on the regulation of incumbent cable companies such as Comcast?
  6. What role, if any, should the state play in allegations of unfair business practices leveled at incumbent carriers such as Qwest and Comcast?
  7. What proposals or concepts do you support to bring better broadband access to rurals Utahns?
  8. What proposals or concepts do you support to improve average broadband speeds to be better competitive on an international basis?
  9. What proposals or concepts do you support to increase competitive options for Internet, television and telephone services?
  10. Do you have any other related comments you would like to add?

Each time I receive a response from a candidate, I'll post it on the wiki with a link from a post on the main page. As part of this, I'm also going to include some background information on each question to provide some neutral basis for the question. You'll be able to track all candidate positions from the wiki. Naturally, anyone that can contribute more information (such as offices up for grabs, candidates who are running, their voting history if they've held office before, etc.) would be very helpful.

Legislative Action: My Proposal to the Utah Technology Commission

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I'm just starting on my journey to get the legislature to hear about the restrictions on UTOPIA, but there is already good progress. I've submitted some brief comments as a synopsis of why we need UTOPIA and why it is critical for us to expand it to unincorporated areas. Below are the comments I have submitted for the co-chairs of the Utah Technology Commission to review.

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Setting the Wheels in Motion

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I've decided to step things up a notch and really get the ball rolling on changing the state law prohibiting counties from participating in UTOPIA. Yesterday, I got a notice that the Utah Technology Commission will be meeting on October 19th at 8AM. This seemed like the proper venue to air my concerns about the current law, so I shot off an e-mail to the chair of the Commission, Rep. John Dougall.

I promptly got a reply back from him guiding me to the right person to talk to, so I'm seeing if I can't get a spot on the agenda of the next meeting (which, as I understand it, should be November 15th) so that I can make a short presentation. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll get a chance to do so.

The First Salvo: My Letter to Mayor Corroon and the County Council

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This is the first round of letters to County Mayor Peter Corroon and members of the County Council to urge them to put pressure on state lawmakers to change secion 10-18-105 of the Municipal Cable Television and Public Telecommunications Services Act. Feel free to copy/paste and mail your own letter. The more of us they hear from, the better!

Dear Mayor Corroon,

As an elected official, I’m sure you are familiar with UTOPIA, Utah’s municipal broadband agency. I’m sure you’re also familiar with the benefits of such a system including lower service prices, faster Internet speeds, and increased competition for Internet, telephone, and cable television services. Since UTOPIA was formed, the incumbent carriers such as Qwest and Comcast have been forced to expand and enhance their services in order to better compete. The UTOPIA project has provided great benefits to those it serves as well as putting Utah into the national technology news media.

Unfortunately, over 180,000 of your constituents cannot participate in this project. It’s not because of resistance from their city council, rejecting a tax proposal on their ballot, or even lawsuits from one of the incumbent telephone or cable companies. No, it is because the Municipal Cable Television and Public Telecommunications Services Act, the bill that authorizes municipal fiber networks such as UTOPIA, expressly forbids unincorporated areas of any county from participation under Section 10-18-105.

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