Provo Approves Veracity Proposal

As I predicted yesterday, Provo’s Municipal Council signed off on the proposal from Veracity to merge with Broadweave and float some of the bond payment for 10 years. (I also totally called Steve Turley voting against the proposal.) I’m not surprised at all given the political climate surrounding the network. Iin a worst-case scenario where Veracity gives the network back, Provo will have had more time to come up with a Plan B and the willingness to execute it.

Want to read more? The Daily Herald and Deseret News both have their articles up.

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7 Responses to Provo Approves Veracity Proposal

  1. Capt. Video says:

    Steve’s vote was no surprise, but Cindy’s vote was.

    I would suggest one of two things?

    Perhaps the closeness of the election race Cindy is involved in has made her wish not to have something she could be “attacked on” hit right now?

    OR

    The documents the council saw were not that good?

    In the past Cindy had been a clear supporter of the project.

  2. Skin says:

    I would like to comment a little on this, because I have watched the comments and articles posted on this forum for some time now, and I think it is a good discussion board. I am an employee of Veracity, and have been here for several years. I have been here through the whole iProvo experience… all of it. It hasn’t been pretty, in fact it has been ugly at times, especially when we became a provider. We cautiously used iProvo because we had to stay in business. If we would have thrown all of our eggs in iProvo we would have gone the way of the other providers… We didn’t, we were smart… most of the time, and tried to grow our company and provide good service to our customers. We are still here… and better than ever.

    This comes to the reason that I am commenting. We built Veracity from our bootstraps, we fought, and pushed, and struggled… and made a great company. Veracity would not be getting in this deal for something “behind the curtain”. We are doing this because we, of all other companies, understand the dynamics of the iProvo situation. We also understand what it is going to take to make this thing work. We are risking a lot in taking on this network, but we are up for the task, and we will make it successful. We wouldn’t take the chance on this if we didn’t truly believe that we can make it work, and we will.

    One thing about Veracity is that we have passionate people that want to make Veracity great, and won’t accept anything less. Veracity is the right fit for this network… Veracity’s effort, experience, passion, and a little time will prove that out. We aren’t “risking nothing”, that is absolutely false and ridiculous.

    Thanks for the site.

  3. Jesse says:

    I personally have few doubts that Veracity can make things work. I do have some issues with the way that Provo conducts business, though. I don’t like that the mayor negotiates behind closed doors and then gives the Municipal Council very little time to review proposals or thoroughly consider alternatives. This isn’t to say that every proposal executed in this manner is a pile of stink, but the original Broadweave deal ended up being a big one.

    Given that, I’m not surprised that some commenters are as cynical as they are. It also didn’t help that the only news about Broadweave was bad news, further validating that without a lot of scrutiny, the city (and thus taxpayers) can and often do get burned. My advice to Veracity is to be fully cognizant of this and be open with what’s going on. Continued secrecy or silence only fans the conspiratorial flames.

  4. Skin says:

    I agree with you on the conducting of business. I believe that with this combination of companies, and the people that are running Veracity Networks we will get the government, and taxpayer out of the picture, and make it a great company, and a great network.

    Veracity isn’t a start up company, and the people running Broadweave currently aren’t schlumps. We don’t have illusions about what it is going to take. One thing to note, and I think it has been briefly on some of the posts, the people that are running Veracity Networks have created a very successful Telecommunications company, Veracity, and formerly ran successful companies in Nextlink, XO, Tel America and McLeod. We aren’t messing around with this, and we will make it a successful network.

    Veracity has a good, loyal, and growing business customer base (statewide), and a very experienced and passionate executive team. Broadweave has a good, and growing customer base in Provo, the Fiber Network, and an excellent experienced executive and management team. Now, combining those two companies you have a serious force in the local telecom industry. Provo City will not have to worry about taking back the network… isn’t gonna happen.

    Provo City, and the taxpayers are going to get their money back from this network, and they can walk away from this. Time will tell.

  5. Capt. Video says:

    I’m not a Veracity employee, but as a former iProvo employee that saw Veracity up close and their dealings with the city, I support the opinion the Veracity employee expressed.

    Veracity is a strong, well run company. Their iProvo experience wasn’t very pretty. In large part by Provo City forcing them to do video and residential?

    I’m not as sure that the network won’t one day return to the city or that the loan will be paid back, but I hope that’s correct and wish them well!

    All Provo residents should support them and consider moving their services to Veracity Networks where cost and services are similar.

  6. Ben Saunders says:

    Now that the city council has decided to approve the merger we are again at a crossroads for the iProvo adventure. I have been critical of the Broadweave / Veracity merger but my criticism is mostly directed at the process that Provo used to award the “sale” and subsequent modifications. I will never agree with that. I will however support Veracity and have no ill will towards them as they go forward. They have every opportunity to make this into a success if they as commited as Mr. Skin has explained. It would be best for everyone if they are truly successful in the long term.

    Having said that, success can be fleeting in business and there is little doubt that Provo will some day again be haunted by the 20 year specter of the looming bond debt. We will hope for the best.

    The Veracity merger and hopeful future aside, the iProvo experience has been disasterous to Provo City and the financial state of the city will be impacted for many years to come. The best the city can hope for is no further losses. There could never be a net gain. Those who contrived this debacle and mismanaged it into its current state still need to take accountability for what they have done. Of course Mayor Billings and others have already laid out plans to move on. These are good steps. There is however a lot of additional house cleaning that still needs to be done.

    Good luck Veracity!

  7. Pingback: Steve Turley Blows Smoke on iProvo and UTOPIA – Free UTOPIA!

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