Free UTOPIA!

Today was the inaugural meeting of the UTOPIA Citizens Advisory Network or U-CAN for short. Attendance was about a dozen and we had some great conversations getting caught up on the status of UTOPIA and an idea of where it's going. Some highlights:

• UTOPIA is looking at using Special Assessment Areas to expand services in non-member areas and unincorporated county lands. It's a voluntary tax increase in order to pay for deploying the network and doing the installation costs in a specified area that takes advantage of 15-year government bonds and the low interest rates they enjoy. The cost of installation will be assessed entirely to members of the SAA.
• There's going to be some announcements soon on new service providers as soon as next week. Up to 4 could be announced over the next month and at least one is rumored to be interested in providing triple-play services.
• The new bond closed in late May as planned, so we may yet see construction by August. The UTOPIA website is actively soliciting new employees, a Business Sales Director and Teams Coordinator, as well as an RFP for asset management software and services.
• Speaking of UTOPIA's website, they are working on a new one with more updates and information. This will also include a mapping application to show you where the demand for UTOPIA is so you can find out if your neighborhood is higher or lower on the priority list.

Meetings are going to be held at least monthly and will rotate between the member cities to give everyone an equal chance to participate. I'm also planning on provisional monthly meetings outside of this rotation for Davis, Salt Lake and Utah Counties to encourage better participation in pledging member cities. The regular monthly meetings will be as follows:

• July 2008: Orem (Utah County)
• August 2008: Layton (Davis County)
• September 2008: Brigham City (Box Elder County)
• October 2008: Murray (Salt Lake County)
• November 2008: Lindon (Utah County)
• December 2008: Centerville (Davis County)

I'll announce the meeting times and locations here on the website as they are scheduled. Meetings will be tentatively planned for the 4th Saturday of the month at noon. If you want to receive U-CAN related announcements via e-mail, send a blank message to ucan-announce-subscribe@freeutopia.org to get on the mailing list.

After several rounds of laying off the rank-and-file, it looks like executives are among those now leaving the company. Mstar CEO Ben Gould and Chief Marketing Officer Kirk Tanner are no longer with the company, reportedly having departed voluntarily. The word on the street, according to the Daily Herald, is that Gould got an offer to go elsewhere whereas Tanner's status is unknown. John Hansen of Chicago Venture Partners LP, Mstar's owner, has taken over in the interim and there aren't plans in the near future to hire a new chief marketing officer.

Given their performance problems on iProvo and the decimated customer base from the sale of iProvo, it's not surprising to hear that Mstar went through some more slashing. Their plan is to re-focus on building a customer base on UTOPIA, secure additional financing and pursue opportunities on other fiber optic networks around the country. Also of note is that Broadweave offered a settlement to Mstar to get them to drop their objections to the sale of iProvo.

The question now remains: can Mstar survive? Post your thoughts in the comments. 

Centerville is taking a proactive role in making sure UTOPIA's health stays under close watch by forming an advisory committee composed of both residents and city officials. The city council is currently accepting applications from residents who are interested in participating and the word on the street is that three will be chosen to help provide feedback on UTOPIA and participate in promotional efforts. If you're interested in serving on the committee, contact your city council member. If you don't get selected, there's still going to be plenty of opportunities through U-CAN. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

UTOPIA Executive Director Todd Marriott has announced the formation of the UTOPIA Citizens Advisory Network (U-CAN) to help provide feedback from the public on the direction UTOPIA is going. Jesse Harris, a local activist who runs FreeUTOPIA.org, has been selected to chair the new group. Harris has spent significant time and effort following developments related to UTOPIA since September of 2006. “Our goal is to help spread the word about UTOPIA and provide ideas on how the network can improve,” he said. He continued: “I’m very excited to bring the community of municipal telecommunications supporters together so that we can help make this network succeed.”

U-CAN plans to hold its first meeting on Saturday June 28 from noon until 1:30PM at the Ruth Vine Tyler Library, 8041 S Wood Street in Midvale. A representative from UTOPIA will be on hand to answer questions from meeting attendees. Regular monthly meetings will be scheduled across the Wasatch Front to give residents of all member cities an equal chance to participate.

About UTOPIA: UTOPIA is a consortium of 16 Utah cities that provides a next-generation fiber optic network for providers of telecommunications services and provides some of the fastest Internet speeds in the nation. It promotes a competitive marketplace by allowing smaller private companies to lease the network and provide services to residents within its service area and is open to allowing new providers and services on the network.

About Jesse Harris: Mr. Harris is an IT professional from White City Township and activist for municipal fiber optic networks. He has been blogging about municipal fiber optic projects and telecommunications at FreeUTOPIA.org since September of 2006. He is a recognized authority on municipal telecommunications projects in Utah and has been interviewed about UTOPIA and iProvo by the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Salt Lake City Weekly and Daily Herald. 

Coming to you today is a two-fer of audio on UTOPIA.

First up is a conversation on KCPW's Midday Metro where Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker responds to a caller question on Salt Lake City's future with UTOPIA. He's definitely supportive of local decisions regarding the matter, though he's also cautious about joining because of the slow sign-ups and cost issues involved. His solution? Get the voters to speak up and say yea or nay. Listen to the full response here (MP3 Download). h/t: Paul Alexander who called in the question and sent me the MP3 response.

Second is a panel discussion on iProvo and UTOPIA at the Utah Taxes Now Conference with Utah Taxpayers Association President Sen. Howard Stephenson, Provo Mayor Lewis Billings and UTOPIA's new Executive Director Todd Marriott. Given that this is a UTA-sponsored event and the panel discussion was titled "The Collapse of Municipal Telecom in Utah", you've gotta know that the audience was probably stacked against both iProvo and UTOPIA. For those that have been listening to the discussion on municipal networks for a long time, you probably won't find a lot new in this discussion, but it's worth listening to anyway. The full conversation can be played from UtahPulse.com here (embedded audio). h/t: Utah Policy Daily who linked the audio of the conference.

Per reader request, I'm opening up a thread to discuss the relationship between PacketFront and UTOPIA.

Some background: Last year, PacketFront purchased DynamicCity, the project management group for UTOPIA. DC also did consulting on projects in Arizona and Palo Alto, CA. PacketFront is a Swedish company that draws on a considerable amount of industry experience from that country's construction of an open-access fiber optic network. As part of the purchase, the Lindon office has been maintained in its current location.

My understanding of PacketFront's relationship to UTOPIA is that they assumed the contract for project management from DynamicCity and have continued in that role with Chris Hogan, VP of Marketing, being the most public figure. A search on LinkedIn shows at least 12 PacketFront employees in the Intermountain West, some of whom I recognize as former employees of DynamicCity.

Questions? Comments? Rude noises? I'd also invite any employees of PacketFront to chime in to provide any additional details or clarification. 

This morning, an inside source disclosed the fate of the existing iProvo retailers. According to this source, Broadweave plans to announce on Thursday that they will be buying out the customer lists from MSTAR, Veracity and Nuvont to become the sole retailer on the network. This move comes as MSTAR has been found to be about $950K in arrears to Provo for their use of the network, only $75K of which is expected to be paid prior to the transition. As part of the acquisition, Broadweave will assume the remainder as a debt due to it from MSTAR.

Between this debt load and their recent layoffs, there is serious concern that MSTAR could fold in the very near future leaving UTOPIA without a triple-play provider. This comes as Todd Marriott announced at the Payson City Council meeting that some new triple-play providers are on-deck to join the network and increase competitive choice, no doubt a result of his experience in the telecommunications field. Since the sale of iProvo to Broadweave looks likely to close and the deadline for sale in June 30, there's little time left to pick up the pieces if MSTAR's financial condition rapidly deteriorates.

As unveiled at the meeting in Payson, Todd Marriott was named as the new Executive Director of UTOPIA today. I had suspected it from the moment they introduced him at one of the earlier meetings and it's exciting to have someone with sales savvy and a passion for open networks take the helm to lead UTOPIA in a sorely-needed new direction. I can't find much about him online other than a stint with CityLink Networks in Fruit Heights, but he seems to really know his stuff. Here's to hoping things get back on track.

Despite high hopes. Payson's City Council voted 4-1 against the new UTOPIA bonds citing concerns about their future revenue streams. Council Member Hancock cast the lone yes vote despite getting a second for the motion to adopt the resolution. This means that they will likely have to start paying out around $259K every year over the next 19 years to satisfy their portion of the old bonds.

I view this move as a calculated risk. Payson knew they were getting their network regardless of how they voted because it makes financial sense for UTOPIA. They also know that their pledge amount is small enough that it won't sink the deal. In short, they knew that opting to not pledge additional money would not mean they wouldn't see more of the network and decided to enjoy the benefit of UTOPIA without risking any more money. I think they also have a hope in their mind that UTOPIA may not call their bond pledge immediately or may opt not to do so at all if it can retire the old bond with the proceeds of the new bond. I hope that isn't their game because it's very unfair to other member cities. 

After more waffles than you'd see in an Eggo plant, Payson has decided that they need to rethink their vote on the new UTOPIA bonds after being the lone hold-out. The city council will meet Monday May 12 at 6PM to reconsider backing the new UTOPIA bonds, a move that's eerily reminiscent of their "no we aren't, yes we are" vote on joining in the first place. The meeting will be held at 439 W. Utah Ave. and it's unknown if additional public comment will be heard. For good measure, supporters in the area should do their best to show up anyway.

I 'll be there, though it's going to be back-to-back with the iProvo open house the same night so I could be a few minutes late.

h/t: Jens Dana from the DMN. Had he not said anything to me on the phone tonight, I might not have heard about it until I was on my way to Zion Nat'l Park for a well-deserved vacation.