Leave UTOPIA to the dreamers

We don't hear an overwhelming demand from the public for this. Much of downtown Salt Lake City already has been wired with fiber optic cables, the result partly of demand and partly of overexuberant investors during the last decade. But most residents seem satisfied with the Internet and cable services offered by private firms, some of whom soon will be able to offer service to 90 percent of state residents.

The private providers, meanwhile, are not at all happy with UTOPIA, which they view as competing with their own expensive efforts to connect residents.

If government's role is to connect everyone to the World Wide Web, just as to connect everyone to a road, then UTOPIA's plans would be the equivalent of building four-lane superhighways in the early 20th century, when tin lizzies were putt-putting their way around.

It may be difficult to stop this trend. Some Utah cities are bent on creating similar networks on their own. Provo is well ahead of UTOPIA. Murray built its own limited fiber optic network awhile back. Now some people there want to sell what Murray has to UTOPIA, at a loss. As the mayor explains it, the cost of fiber optics materials and installation have come down a lot since the city laid its lines.

That may offer the best lesson, actually. When the market is ready, private companies will build fiber optic networks, or perhaps something even better. The good thing about that approach is that taxpayers will benefit, rather than having to pay.