Billings said he heard last week from a Midwestern city that didn't build a fiber-optic network like its neighbor and has suffered while the wired city has flourished. The first city will now follow its neighbor and build a network.

Bailey claimed iProvo subscriptions are down and that people are dropping out, but Billings said iProvo has more than 4,000 subscribers, up from 1,600 in midsummer.

"The model shows we need 10,000," Billings said. "We're going to easily exceed that."

Bailey said the city should pursue air shuttle service from the Provo airport.

"We need to entice commuter air taxi service for commuter service to Salt Lake City," he said. "We need a commuter air service to Salt Lake, Denver, Los Angeles and Las Vegas."

Billings has hinted for more than a year that private negotiations are under way for commercial air service.

"We expect you'll see scheduled regional service," he said, "not just air taxi service to SLC."

Such services could have happened sooner, said Adam Clark, who is running against two-term incumbent Cindy Richards for City Council District 5. During the council part of the debate, Clark said he was part of a team that raised $23 million to launch air service in 2001, but the investors withdrew after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Sitting between Billings and Bailey were four candidates for City Council, as if to separate the two, but the heated comments that marked their first two televised meetings were noticeably absent.

Billings and Bailey have one scheduled debate remaining. They will meet Nov. 4 during the monthly Provo/Orem Chamber of Commerce First Friday Forum luncheon. The chamber also sponsored Thursday night's debates.

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E-mail: twalch@desnews.com