AT&T Will Help Get $470 Million Utah Public Fiber Optic Network Running

Dec. 26–A fiber optic network venture between 18 Utah cities and the private sector named its first service provider Tuesday — a major milestone in getting the project off the ground.

AT&T will re-enter the Utah market as the main service provider for the Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA), a $470-million fiber optic network that promises to bring integrated telephone, Internet and TV services to homes and businesses statewide at unprecedented speeds.

Keith Wilson, CEO of Dynamic City, the consultant to UTOPIA that worked out the deal, said several companies were considered, but AT&T best fit what the group was looking for.

“We were looking for a company that had a track record in both residential and business services, who had a good customer reputation, and of course, one that was financially strong,” he said.

The project involves laying thousands of miles of fiber optic underground cable and is slated to begin in summer 2004, with an expected completion date around the end of 2007.

AT&T spokesman Bob Nersesian said the company is both qualified and eager to be the first provider on a project that may become a model for the industry.

“We’re very excited from the standpoint that these networks are the gold standard,” he said. “This puts these communities at the forefront of information technology.”

Wilson said AT&T will have exclusive provider rights “for less than a year” while the project is under construction.

“We will be doing an initial period of integration, and don’t think it’s a good idea to race right out there before services are stabilized,” he said. “Some of the companies we talked to wanted a long period of exclusivity.

“It’s important that the provider understand, philosophically as well as contractually, that that isn’t going to be the case. By ‘open’, we mean we want and will have a number of companies using the network.”

But John Vogel, general manager of Relia.net, a small Ogden-based Internet service provider, said smaller local providers have largely been left out of the planning process.

“At the public forum in Brigham City awhile back, they got positive feedback from everyone but the local ISPs,” he said, “but we haven’t heard from them at all. If we’re not involved in that scenario, it makes it difficult for us.”

Wilson said a number of local ISPs have been contacted, and have expressed significant interest in participating. Vogel said he is skeptical about buying a stake in the project without receiving more information, and thinks there may be too much infrastructure already in place.

“The idea is unique and would be beneficial to the public,” he said, “but I feel UTOPIA has a long road ahead in getting to where it can actually deliver fiber optic broadband to homes at rates people will pay when they already have DSL (digital subscriber line), satellite and wireless services.”

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