Fiber optic line to boost Cache's business appeal

Cache County's tech-reliant business community has a new lifeline.

It's made of fiber.

Comcast, the county and the state chipped in with $1.5 million for a fiber optic line expected to boost the county's economic and community development. The lack of a second line — Qwest Communications International Inc. has had one in place for several years — often was cited as a reason for companies moving out or outside firms ruling out Cache County as a potential expansion site.

Logan Mayor Doug Thompson recalled chatting with potential business movers during a trip to California when then-Gov. Mike Leavitt was pushing his Silicon Valley Initiative.

"We had a lot of talk about the university (Utah State) and the area's technological ability and the quality of life of the community and recreation aspects of it. Everything was going swimmingly until they asked about fiber optic access," Thompson said.

"When I told them we only had one line, that was the end of the conversation. Most were polite, but one guy said, 'Are you kidding me?' and turned around and walked off. It was obvious to me that until we got a second, alternate-path fiber optic line, we were out of the game as far as high-tech businesses."

The 23-mile line, extending from east of Tremonton in Box Elder County to Mendon in Cache, serves an area comprising most Cache Valley communities and as far north as Franklin, Idaho. Comcast provided $1 million, while the state put up $250,000 and the remaining $250,000 came from local governments, Cache Valley businesses and the Cache Chamber of Commerce.

"What we heard from the mayor and the chamber of commerce and Utah State were a lot of concerns that some businesses did not want to locate in Cache Valley because there were not two fiber connections, so they didn't have redundancy," said Scott Tenney, Utah area vice president for Comcast, which employs 700 in the state. "That was inhibiting economic development. The fact that there's multiple sources of fiber will make it easier to attract business to Cache Valley."

Thompson said local businesses also have complained about the lack of redundancy. One company had a client with a penalty clause of $100,000 per hour if communications went down. At least two businesses skipped town, in part because the city was without a redundant fiber optic line.

Nyle Stoddard and Paul Campbell are among businesspeople who saw the situation's problems in 1998 when a backhoe in Willard, Box Elder County, put the Qwest line out of service for several hours.

"We know what it's like to have Cache County, Box Elder County and part of Rich County just disappear from the world," said Stoddard, enterprise architect with Moore Wallace DCS & R.R. Donnelley Co.