Opinion Piece in the Daily Herald

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This opinion piece is adapted from my more in-depth analysis of the situation with iProvo and was published in today's Daily Herald.

I had the opportunity to attend the inaugural meeting of the iProvo Review Committee and walked away with a significant amount of new data including copies of the reports from CCG Consulting and Franklin Court Partners. After digesting where the network is and where it is going, I can come to only one conclusion: iProvo is a valuable city asset with the potential to save city departments and residents millions of dollars every year.

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BREAKING: Orem Approves New UTOPIA Bonds By Unanimous Vote

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After almost 2 hours of discussion and questions, the Orem City Council voted 6-0 to approve the new UTOPIA bonds and move forward with the new plan for the network. This leaves Murray as the last city to vote on the issue and all signs there point to yes. With only Payson refusing to sign off, this means that the new bonds will likely go through as originally envisioned and the RUS cities could be on the network in as little as 8 weeks after the financing comes through.

BREAKING: Brigham City Approves New UTOPIA Bonds by 4-1 Vote

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Less than 2 hours ago, Brigham City voted in favor of the new UTOPIA bonds with Ruth Jensen casting the lone dissenting vote. They made their vote conditional upon approval by the remaining two pledging member cities, Orem and Murray, in a move similar to Centerville. With this vote, UTOPIA moves one step closer to securing the new financing and being able to move forward with its plans to continue construction in the RUS cities.

iProvoWorks.com Launches to Advocate for iProvo

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Just today, Jeremy Neish, a Provo citizen, launched iProvoWorks.com to build a grass-roots advocacy network around the city's municipal fiber optic network. It appears to have some of the same goals that I have for FreeUTOPIA, yet it goes further to put together advertising materials and actively solicit new customers onto the network. I'd encourage anyone who's supportive of iProvo to give this sister site your support.

BREAKING: Centerville Says Yes by 3-2 Vote

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Just moments ago, Centerville's City Council voted 3-2 to approve the new UTOPIA bonds, coming down to a "lesser of two evils" yes vote from Council Member Justin Allen, the swing vote on the council. The vote comes with conditions that Centerville reserves the right to reconsider based on how the remaining three cities vote, that UTOPIA find new executives and that UTOPIA present all contracts to the board before moving forward. All amendments were proposed by Paul Cutler, member of the Council and UTOPIA's board.

This now leaves only three cities, Brigham City, Orem and Murray, to cast votes on the issue. I encourage anyone in favor of UTOPIA to contact the council members to voice support leading up to these meetings. 

Updated UTOPIA Meeting Schedule: Orem, Payson, Brigham City, Centerville

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I've received updated meeting times for the rescheduled UTOPIA meetings as follows:

  • Brigham City: Thursday May 1 at 7PM
  • Centerville: Tuesday April 29 at 7PM
  • Murray: Monday May 5 at 6:30PM
  • Orem: Friday May 2 at 9AM
  • Payson: No re-vote

The addresses should be the same as the prior meetings and can be located on the sidebar. Payson has decided to not reconsider approving the new bonds for UTOPIA and will likely start paying from its pledges on the original bond arrangement. All other hearings will not be accepting any further public comment since they've already had significant public input. I'd encourage you to attempt to make as many of these meetings as you can and take the time to write to city council members.

BREAKING: Murray Tables Vote Until May 5

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The Murray Municipal Council voted 5-0 to table the final vote on the UTOPIA bonds until Monday May 5 at 6:30PM. The feeling is that they had a lot of information to process and needed additional time to come to a final decision. The audience was split pretty evenly between supporters and opponents and Mayor Snarr made an impassioned speech on the necessity of this infrastructure. My gut feeling is that the council will move to approve the bonds as the best option available.

The State of iProvo: Network Will Save City and Residents Millions Each Year

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I had the opportunity to attend the inaugural meeting of the iProvo Review Committee last Tuesday and walked away with more information than I knew what to do with. The Committee was kind enough to distrubute current figures for iProvo subscribers, information on municipal networks, and, best of all, a copy of the consultant's reports from CCG Consulting and Franklin Court Partners. There was a lot of information to soak in and it took me about three 2 hours of reading to slog through it all. After digesting where the network is and where it is going, I can come to only one conclusion: iProvo is the most valuable thing the city has ever done for its residents with a potential to save city departments and residents millions of dollars each year it operates.

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Overpriced and Anti-Competitive: The Dark Side of Qwest's Fiber

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Much has been made of Qwest's announcement that they're rolling out their new FTTN network in Utah, but the media has missed some critical points regarding the dark side of Qwest's plans.

The first jaw-dropper is the sticker shock: $105/mo for 20Mbps/896Kbps DSL or $52/mo for 12Mbps/896Kbps DSL. Interestingly enough, these services are only initially available in parts of Draper, Salt Lake City and East Millcreek despite their claims that they are pushing hard to roll out access in UTOPIA cities and underserved areas like Woods Cross. The closest comparable service is a 30Mbps/30Mbps package from MSTAR running $50/mo. Not only is it faster than either of Qwest's planned DSL offerings, it beats both on price. When looking at bundles with phone service, Qwest will clock in at a budget-busting $146/mo for the top-tier DSL speed and unlimited long distance while MSTAR sips from your wallet at $74/mo, almost half that. While must is being made of UTOPIA's new installation fees, the savings pay for it after just 14 months with the Internet/phone bundle. This is a huge pricing differential that consumers must be made aware of.

The real scandal is what this will do for local loop competition. AT&T is building a network similar to Qwest and based on the same FTTN technology. Because it's fiber optics and not the old copper plant, they are no longer required to line-share with other providers. Qwest is doing the exact same thing. There will be no XMission, no MSTAR, no Infowest for your DSL provider in these areas; Qwest will be the sole retailer. Expect a similar picture when it comes to your phone service. Seem like paying $24M to kick out the competition was a steal for the incumbent.

This kind of market consolidation is bad news for Utah consumers.