"It's going to be a smooth transition for (customers)," he said. "We're gonna take an already great service and add to it."

Christensen declined to comment on what plans they have to correct those inefficiencies. But he said Broadweave will make two huge announcements within the next week regarding service providers and future investments in the system.

"Stay tuned," he said.

According to the agreement terms, Broadweave will assume the remainder of Provo's bonds and almost all of the city's other financial obligations related to the network. Broadweave will own and operate all components of iProvo. In addition, it will grant the city a license to use dark fiber for city uses, capacity on the network for connecting government agencies for $300,000 per year and up to 3 mega-bytes of bandwidth for utility services to every residence and business connected to the network.

Provo will also have a non-voting representative on Broadweave's governing board. If Broadweave chooses to sell the network to a third party, in addition to any amount due on the sales price, it will be obligated to pay the city 10 percent of the remaining amount due or $2 million, whichever is greater. The parties tentatively plan to close the transaction by June 30.

Whether the deal goes through depends on the City Council, which has final say over the matter. But council members present at the mayor's announcement expressed elation. "Hallelujah," Councilman Steve Turley said. "The gray clouds have parted and the angels are singing. ... Hopefully, this will end the suffering.'"

Council members Cynthia Dayton and Midge Johnson also expressed excitement about the announcement.

Councilman George Stewart congratulated the mayor for completing the transaction.

"Right company, right place. ..," he said. "With the information provided so far, I'm persuaded to support what the administration is proposing."

But not everyone is satisfied with the process. Pete Ashdown, CEO of Internet service provider Xmission, called the sale a "government-installed monopoly" because the request-for-proposals process was completed away from public scrutiny.

"This is the first time I heard about this sale," he said. "This was done behind closed doors."

Provo spokeswoman Helen Anderson explained the city had to sign nondisclosure agreements with the business it contacted during the process to protect its investments.

"You don't want your competitors to know what you're doing," she said. "That's just business reality."

There are still several meetings scheduled where the public can voice thoughts on the sale, Billings said. But, with the pending sale on the horizon, he said he hopes the city has given everyone — critics included — some resolution.

"As best we could, we tried to create a win-win for everyone," he said.

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