UTOPIA coming soon to 18 cities
Starting as soon as next spring, 18 Utah cities plan to lay the groundwork on the largest ultrahigh-speed digital network in the country.
"We offer bandwidth that is incomparable," said Paul Morris, executive director of the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, or UTOPIA. "What's being provided right now (to the public), we think, does not satisfy what businesses need to come here."
The network would be capable of delivering data over the Internet to homes and businesses at speeds 100 times faster than current offerings.
With ultrahigh-speed Internet access, city planners envision a new-age Silicon Valley along the Wasatch Front.
"We think we will become a more desirable place for people to move their businesses," said Rocky Fluhart, Salt Lake City's chief administrative officer.
Other UTOPIA member cities are Brigham City, Cedar City, Cedar Hills, Centerville, Layton, Lindon, Midvale, Murray, Orem, Payson, Perry, Riverton, Roy, South Jordan, Taylorsville, Tremonton and West Valley City.
"Without a doubt, UTOPIA is the biggest economic opportunity the entire state of Utah has had since the railroad rolled in," said Murray Mayor Dan Snarr, who also serves as the chairman of UTOPIA's board of directors.
Residents in Lindon, a growing community in Utah County, have demanded high-speed Internet access for four years now, and the private sector has done nothing to meet those demands, City Administrator Ott Dameron said.
"It's a quality of life issue for the residents," Dameron said. "They're asking for this type of service, and we'd like to provide it."
Big cities such as New York or Los Angeles may seem like an obvious choice to install such a technologically ambitious project. But a bit of lucky timing brought the network to Utah.
"The planets aligned," said Roger Black, UTOPIA's chief operating officer. "It's just an accident of the right people being in the right place at the right time."
That time came shortly after the Utah Legislature passed a law that allows local municipalities to throw their hand into the telecommunications business, although the bill makes it difficult for government entities to create Internet utilities that sell service directly to customers.
UTOPIA solves the restriction barrier by serving as a wholesaler — the network will be open and available to many service providers. Provo plans to deploy a similar fiber-to-home network soon, city spokesman Mike Mower said.
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