Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency

The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a consortium of 20 Utah cities with 3 additional operational partners engaged in deploying and operating a fiber to the premises network to every business and household within its footprint. Using an active Ethernet infrastructure and operating at the wholesale level, UTOPIA is considered an open-access network and promotes competition in all telecommunications services.

History

2002 First feasibility study 2004 authorization of first bonds 2007 falls short of subscriber goal of 35%, reaching only 16% subscribership to service. 2014 proposal for a private equity firm purchase, which fails to go through 2015 approached net zero operational cost, which would end years of operational losses subsidized by member cities.

Operations

UTOPIA operates as a wholesale fiber-optic network and is prohibited by law from providing retail services. There are currently 15 service providers on the UTOPIA network and the network is open to additional service providers that meet certain qualifications. Though UTOPIA has extended an open invitation to Comcast, CenturyLink (formerly Qwest), and Frontier Communications, the incumbent service providers, all have declined to join the network.

Financing

UTOPIA bonds for construction costs using sales tax pledges as collateral to secure the bond. Revenues to cover the bonds are then set aside by pledging cities in an interest-bearing account and will only be used should subscriber revenues fail to cover the debt service. Because UTOPIA cities all bond at the same time and use their collective bond ratings and taxing authority, financing is generally seen as low-risk and secures a low interest rate.

UTOPIA encountered financial problems in late 2007 and halted all new construction. They have applied for and been approved for loans from the US Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS) program. These loans required UTOPIA to submit a construction plan for approval and, once approved, apply for reimbursement. UTOPIA reportedly ran into multiple delays in seeking reimbursement before being outright refused any further reimbursement from RUS without explanation. At the time, UTOPIA had $11M in outstanding construction costs that had not been reimbursed by RUS. UTOPIA has since sued RUS for damages.[1]

Because of these problems, UTOPIA asked its pledging member cities to extend the bonding period from 20 to 30 years and bond for additional to connect additional customers, complete unfinished sections of the network, and provide two years of capitalized interest payments. The new bond is for $185M with a total cost including interest of $500M. The network has over 11,000 subscribers.[2]

A new proposal in 2014 has surfaced from an Australian investment company called Macquarie Group

UTOPIA Fiber cities

Utopia is available in at least parts of the following cities:

• Bountiful
• Brigham City
• Bozeman
• Centerville
• Clearfield
• Idaho Falls
• Layton
• Lindon
• Midvale
• Morgan
• Murray
• Orem
• Payson
• Perry
• Pleasant Grove
• Santa Clara

Types of service

The types of service provided depend on the service provider. UTOPIA itself doesn't set any requirements on the services offered.

• VOIP (Phone)
• IPTV (Video)
• Data (Internet)

Service providers

Network management/design

UTOPIA's network design is handled by UTOPIA's Network Engineers.

External links