iProvo is healthy, Billings asserts

PROVO — Mayor Lewis Billings edged Dave Bailey by 362 votes four years ago. On Friday, it became clear that one battleground in this fall's rematch between the two will be iProvo, the city's ambitious telecommunications network that offers broadband speeds nearly 10 times faster than DSL.

Bailey filed his candidacy on Friday and told supporters, "iProvo is to Billings as Iraq is to Bush." Meanwhile, Billings held a televised press conference to say iProvo is healthy and has two new service providers to replace HomeNet, which announced earlier this week that it was pulling out of the project.

Billings went a step further with a bold election season projection.

"I think you'll see remarkable leaps in subscriptions in the next 60 days," he said. "We'll go from under 2,000 subscribers to iProvo to 4,000 in 60 days. We'll be nearly halfway to where we need to be. I think you'll see us go into Thanksgiving with 4,000 to 5,000 subscribers, which will put us ahead of schedule."

Much of that growth could come through MSTAR and Veracity, the two service providers certified by the city Friday. Both companies are local and have thousands of clients in Provo, many of whom are expected to switch to the phone, cable TV or Internet services the companies will offer over iProvo's speedier network.

"We are going to be offering those services to our (Provo) customers anticipating they'll want to move to a superior network," Veracity president Drew Peterson said.

Existing iProvo customers serviced by HomeNet will be divided between the two new service providers based on private deals struck between HomeNet and the companies. The city will notify customers by letter next week who their new service provider will be, and the transition will take place by Aug. 1, Provo energy director Kevin Garlick said.

Customers sold by HomeNet to MSTAR will have the freedom to jump to Veracity if they wish and vice versa, said Paul Venturella, iProvo's telecommunications manager.

Peterson and MSTAR president Jon Hansen said their companies will offer "triple-play" packages — phone, cable TV and broadband Internet — for as low as $99 to $100 monthly.

Customers also will be able to purchase double-play packages or a single service. The Internet phone service, which allows customers to call anywhere and includes caller ID, call waiting and voice mail, will cost $30 a month.

The network offers a connection of 10 megabits per second. DSL lines transmit 1.2 megabits per second.