BRIGHAM CITY — Utah's governor on Thursday likened the fiber-optic network development being done in the state and in other spots in the world to other great infrastructure projects of the past.

Speaking during a networking open house at the International Network of e-Communities' annual meeting, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said the building of broadband networks is akin to building the intercontinental railroad, as both have the goal of connecting people from different regions.

Connecting homes and businesses through modern networks is "no less important, I'm here to tell you, than what happened with the Golden Spike in 1869," Huntsman said during the event, which featured officials from Brazil, Malaysia, Iceland, the Netherlands and Greece, as well as Utah.

Whereas history has featured periods in which nation-states and then corporations were the predominant forces in economic development, "the wiring of the world" has freed individuals with entrepreneurial spirit, he said.

The work is continuing through the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, a municipal fiber network consortium of 14 Utah cities, and INEC, which includes communities worldwide deploying broadband with the vision of "e-communities."

The governor thanked Paul Morris, UTOPIA's executive director, for working to "make a difference in terms of our competitiveness and viability in the years to come, and that is for connectedness, our basic communications infrastructure, for revenues and for businesses. The speed and performance of the Internet have never been more important in our state."

The transcontinental railroad affected transportation and economic development throughout the country, Huntsman said.

"Now we're here talking about connecting people in a different way — no less important, no less significant, but the theory is basically the same," he said.

"And that is how to connect people in an age of globalization, where it doesn't matter whether you're sitting in Brigham City, Utah, or whether you're sitting in Reykjavik, Iceland, or whether you're in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, anyone can compete in today's world and in the most remarkable way. But you've got to have the infrastructure in order to do it. You've got to have that connection to the homes and the businesses in order for one to compete."

Huntsman noted how Utah must keep its various infrastructures — from technological and educational to livability and quality-of-life — in place or improving "to take us to the next level."

Speakers from the various countries told how their fiber infrastructure development has led to economic development and quality-of-life improvements. One spoke about how fiber is being used "to flatten the world more" and another praised UTOPIA's "pioneering lead" in the United State.

"We have learned a lot from our friends," UTOPIA's Morris said, "and hopefully they can learn a lot from us."

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