Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a consortium of 16 Utah cities engaged in deploying and operating a fiber to the premises network to every business and household (about 140,000) within its footprint. Using an active Ethernet infrastructure and operating at the wholesale level, it supports open access and promotes competition in all telecommunications services.
Contents |
[edit] Operations
UTOPIA operates as a wholesale fiber optic network and is prohibited by law from providing retail services. There are currently 4 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 both Comcast and Qwest, the incumbent service providers, both have declined to join the network.
[edit] 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.
[edit] Member Cities
UTOPIA has two types of members: pledging and non-pledging. Pledging cities have committed to cover bond payments should UTOPIA become unable to service the debt through subscriber revenues. Non-pledging cities have made no such commitment and will only see construction begin after the pledging cities are complete and UTOPIA goes revenue positive (currently projected for 2012).
- Brigham City
- Cedar City (Non-pledging)
- Cedar Hills (Non-pledging)
- Centerville
- Layton
- Lindon
- Midvale
- Murray
- Orem
- Payson
- Perry
- Riverton (Non-pledging)
- Tremonton
- Vineyard (Non-pledging)
- Washington City (Non-pledging)
- West Valley City
[edit] Types of Service
- Phone
- Video
- Internet (Data)
[edit] Service Providers
[edit] Network Management/Design
- DynamicCity (Purchased by PacketFront Inc. Aug. 2007)
[edit] External links
- UTOPIA Home Page
- Mstar (Service Provider)
- Nuvont Communications (Residential Service Provider)
- Veracity Communications (Business Service Provider)
- XMission (Service Provider)
- DynamicCity's Home Page
- PacketFront's Home Page (Purchased DynamicCity in Aug. 2007)
- FreeUTOPIA (Advocacy for UTOPIA, also tracks hyperlocal UTOPIA news)
