It's very similar to the municipal airport business model. Would it make economic sense for each airline to build its own airport? Obviously not. Nor does it make sense for each telecom service provider to dig up the streets. Airlines compete on price and customer service while sharing the airport infrastructure.

The airport is paid for by the passengers who use it. Similarly, UTOPIA's fiber-optic network will be paid for by those who use it. After only one year of operation, residents in Provo and Spanish Fork are subscribing to their municipal telecom systems in numbers much higher than the UTOPIA project would need to break even at year four.

The Deseret Morning News expressed concern about technological obsolescence. This network is designed to evolve as the technology evolves. Advances in technology have already dramatically increased the capacity of fiber and those breakthroughs and improvements will continue. It is fully complementary to the wireless technologies which are much slower but fill an important niche.

Will individual private companies put fiber-optic cable into every home and small business? And open the system to competitors? No! But that is what our businesses need. That's what our citizens want. They want choices. They want capacity.

Yet, the prevailing attitude of the telecommunications monoliths was summed up nicely by Qwest Utah President Jerry Fenn, when he told the New York Times: "Why provide a Rolls-Royce when a Chevrolet will do?" (Nov. 17, 2003)

Well, when it comes to these services, Utah wants a Rolls-Royce. We are tired of the World Wide Wait. Our businesses need instantaneous file transfer for graphics, medical images and large databases. Our schools and government want cost-effective video conferencing. We want access to advanced telemedicine services. Our residents want to be able to see and visit with an elderly parent or grandparent over a video phone. We want interactive full-motion video. We want greater choice and control over content including more opportunity for local content. There is no reason not to have these services today. High-speed communication in Japan is 20 times faster and half the price of what we can get.

Yes, we want the Rolls-Royce — especially because it can be offered at a Chevy price. Some of our communities are willing to invest in their own futures, even if the private sector is not. Let the cities build the community-owned digital pipeline. Let the private sector offer competing services over it. Let the users pay for it.

Learn more at www.telecomchoices.org.

Utah is ready for more choices!

Bring on the bandwidth!

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Dennis Nordfeldt is mayor of West Valley City. LouAnn Christensen is mayor of Brigham City. This column also was signed by six other people representing city and state governments and academia.