Provo on brink of digital era

All that's left to do is iron out the funding and get approval for the city's ambitious ultrahigh-speed digital network.

If the City Council approves citywide deployment of the service, Provo residents could surf the Web at lightning-fast speeds, talk to their neighbor via video conferencing phones and never pay a late fee at the video store ever again.

iProvo will directly connect local homes and businesses using fiber optic lines, a move most private telecommunications companies have historically been reluctant to pursue.

"It's a next-generation network," said Paul Venturella, Provo's telecommunications director. "Just as 100 years ago the phone network started with copper wires, then 50 years ago cable networks started with coax wires, and now fiber networks are going with fiber."

Unlike 18 other Utah cities — a coalition called UTOPIA — who are still mulling the details of a ultrahigh-speed digital network, some Provo homes are already wired and ready to go.

Folks in the Grandview neighborhood caught a sneak peek at the service as the city's official test group. For Gene Nelson, who waited for what seemed like an eternity for a Web page to load up on his dial-up Internet connection, iProvo is a welcome technology.

"iProvo has allowed us to have some very very fast access," Nelson said. "All of a sudden we have it connected, and we have this extremely fast rate of speed."

Provo was already far into its project when UTOPIA came into existence, Venturella said. But both systems are built the same way. The city will serve as a fiber wholesaler — opening the network to many service providers.

Officials project an up-front cost of $39.5 million, which would be funded through a bond. Construction costs to bring the service to Provo's 32,000 households and businesses is estimated at nearly $32.7 million.

iProvo officials will present a bond resolution to the City Council on Dec. 2. If approved, major construction could begin as early as next spring, Venturella said.

The project is not without its naysayers. Councilman Stan Lockhart has said taxpayers shouldn't have to shoulder the burden should the project fail. If the network doesn't pull in enough revenue to pay off the bond, sales tax revenue would be on the line, Lockhart said.

"I just don't think the benefits outweigh the risks to the taxpayers," Lockhart said. Sales tax revenue funds too many other beneficial projects in the city; the risk is just not worth it, he said.

The city will repay the loan by charging private companies to use the fiber optic ring or through Internet, phone or cable service fees passed on to customers.

"We wouldn't build a network if we didn't think that financially it was sound and made sense," Venturella said. "Some of the critics are saying, 'Well the network we have today is good for today.'

"We think that's true, but we're not building the network for today, we're building for tomorrow."

E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com

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