UTOPIA may face tough test

Bringing UTOPIA to Utah may prove to be a tricky task.

Officials with the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency said Monday they expect funding for the first phase of the fiber-optic data network to come through as early as late July or August, if things go as planned.

However, the director for UTOPIA said officials worry private industry might try to stamp out the fledgling network by lowering services fees to ridiculous levels if the location of the first test network is disclosed.

"I'm sure it's not going to be a secret," said UTOPIA executive director Paul Morris, who said it will be difficult to hide the work from companies such as Comcast and Qwest. Yet Morris doesn't know if UTOPIA wants to make it any easier for them by announcing which city will be host to the first UTOPIA network.

UTOPIA is touted as a data network that will be fast enough to offer telephone, Internet and television services in one high-speed connection. Although the network infrastructure will be managed by a quasi-governmental entity, private service providers such as AT&T will compete on the network by leasing into the system.

Some elected officials say UTOPIA is the answer to what they regard as lackluster service provided by telecommunications giants Qwest and Comcast. Qwest, Comcast and the Utah Taxpayers Association have called UTOPIA a risky gamble using taxpayers' money.

The first part of UTOPIA's implementation plan is to build a $25 million test network that will serve between 2,000 and 3,000 customers. But in order for the test network to get off the ground, it will require willing, paying customers. Morris said there's a fear that once private telecommunications companies find out, they will simply cut their prices in that city.

When asked if that is something his company would do, Qwest spokesman Vince Hancock said, "We can't disclose what we might do due to the competitive nature."

Hancock added that unfair pricing would be something the Utah Public Service Commission wouldn't look kindly upon.

On Monday, the UTOPIA Board of Directors approved the final interlocal agreement, which will commit UTOPIA cities for the next 50 years. The agreement also protects member cities, Morris said, by shielding them from legal liability.

The $340 million broadband fiber network, which is expected to service 11 financially committed cities, will be funded through bonds taken out by UTOPIA and backed by a set amount of sales tax dollars. Morris said the bonds are UTOPIA's debt and that under the interlocal agreement, cities would not be held legally liable if the network fails.

"It isn't their debt on their backs," Morris said. "It's UTOPIA's."