PROVO — Mayor Lewis Billings scrawled his John Hancock on the first iProvo service provider contract Tuesday, taking another step toward making the city's fiber-optic network services a reality. All that remains to seal the deal is the City Council's stamp of approval at its Tuesday meeting.

The 126-page contract with Video Internet Broadcasting Corp. has been reviewed by the council over the last few months, and on May 4, they gave Billings the go-ahead to sign as soon as the legal review was complete.

"(The contract) covers a lot of details about every part of this relationship: who's responsible for what, how do things sequence, how do installations happen, what's the transport fee — it's got a little bit of everything in it," said Provo Power's Mary DeLaMare-Schaefer, who has overseen the iProvo project.

The lease fee, or transport fee, paid by VIB to use the network varies with the number of customers that use the provider's services.

"In other words, we're like the wholesaler, we own the system, and they lease the system in order to provide services to the customer," DeLaMare-Schaefer said.

The document also includes the sale of Provo Cable's customers, with the city retaining ownership of the infrastructure. Provo Cable has been managed by VIB since February and will eventually be replaced by video services provided by VIB and other providers over the iProvo network.

Though VIB is the first provider on the network, DeLaMare-Schaefer said it will not be the only provider.

"There will be other providers that come on to the system; we're putting together the procedure for that right now," she said. "We selected VIB because we wanted the first provider to be what we call a triple-play provider: we wanted a company that could provide telephone, video and data. We do expect to have other companies coming on."

VIB CEO Kelly Ryan said his company offers an integration in its triple-play services that others lack.

"When we talk about integrated triple-play, the difference here is that you'll be able to get caller ID on your television," Ryan said. "You can retrieve your voice mail from your television. You can go to your computer and administrate your phone. It is a true integration of two-way services."

Ryan said the company will also provide flat-rate telephone services over the network.

"What it means is that you can call all the long distance you want — there are no longer any long distance fees — but it still behaves just like your standard telephone and you still utilize your standard telephone," he said.

DeLaMare-Schaefer said once iProvo is built out, residents will see greatly improved service. "It's kind of like you're riding a pony, and now we're going to offer you a ride in a Jaguar," she said. "The only thing Provo Cable provides right now is cable services, and they're an old technology. You'll get a vastly improved, clearer, better, bigger packages, more options."

And according to Ryan, those improved services will be available at the same, or even a lower price than what residents currently pay.

VIB hopes to eventually provide services on other municipally-owned fiber-optic networks, like the proposed UTOPIA. "We're looking at being a participant in UTOPIA," Ryan said. "We will show up, and Provo certainly helps us with that."

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