S.L. still unsure about fiber plan

Salt Lake City leaders continue to cast a skeptical eye on the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency.

The city is one of the 18-member cities that have formed UTOPIA, a public partnership that would bring fiber optic lines to every home and business in its member cities at a total cost of $540 million.

Even Mayor Rocky Anderson, whose administration recommended that the city join UTOPIA, said he has reservations. The mayor said when any municipality considers providing services already available — albeit on a limited basis — by the private sector, there is a "high burden" that needs to be met.

Asked if UTOPIA had met that burden, Anderson said "no, not yet."

In the next few weeks, the mayor is expected to deliver a recommendation to the council about whether the city should risk taxpayer funds to remain in UTOPIA.

On Friday, the system suffered a setback when the Senate Transportation and Public Utilities and Technology Standing Committee approved a bill that would prohibit the use of tax revenue or city general funds to go toward telecommunications networks.

Pete Ashdown, founder of Internet service provider XMission, said Thursday that the city would become a technological wasteland if it doesn't join UTOPIA. Other cities in Salt Lake County that are going forward with the project will be able to attract businesses away from Utah's capital.

"I do not want to see any more attrition away from the city I love," Ashdown said.

But many City Council members, who have already expressed public concerns over the project, still seem incredulous.

Council Chairwoman Jill Remington Love and council member Van Turner noted that Salt Lake City is already largely wired with fiber and cable options. While UTOPIA might be a good thing for rural communities that don't already have cable or fiber infrastructure, Love and Turner wondered why Salt Lake City should do it.

Ashdown said many city businesses are priced out of the fiber market because private providers like Qwest are too expensive. UTOPIA is expected to provide a much lower price, thus opening the market to all businesses and even residents.

The council has scheduled a public hearing on UTOPIA for the first week in March and plans a vote shortly after that hearing.

The council must decide whether it will pledge up to $4.1 million yearly for 18 years in sales tax revenue to subsidize UTOPIA if the project fails to make any money. UTOPIA's business model, which most agree is solid, indicates the city's will never have to use any of that sales tax revenue and will in fact, in Salt Lake City's case, generate millions of dollars in revenue.

But even generating dollars made the council nervous. Turner noted that if UTOPIA is successful, it would be taking money out of Qwest and Comcast's pockets and thus hurting existing city businesses and their employees.

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