MUNICIPAL FTTH DEPLOYMENT SNAPSHOT Utah Telecommunication
Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA)
As one of the first open-access FTTH networks in the United States and one of the first networks to be built by a consortium of disparate cities, UTOPIA sailed into uncharted waters when it launched in 2005. It has faced many challenges over the years, but it is still growing, adding services and supporting economic development and quality of life for its member cities. Tanks to Julie Paulson, Robyn Geist and Gary Jones for providing the information for this profile.
– BBC Editors
BACKGROUND Network operator: Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA)
Owner: UTOPIA, a consortium of Utah cities
FTTP service area: Member cities, including Brigham City, Cedar City, Cedar Hills, Centerville, Layton, Lindon, Midvale, Murray, Orem, Payson, Perry, Riverton, Tremonton, Vineyard, Washington City, West Valley City
Number of premises in FTTP service area: 61,614 Current number of subscribers: 9,596 Operator's prior history as a broadband provider: None
Competitive landscape: CenturyLink (DSL), Comcast (cable) and several wireless providers
NETWORK PROFILE Year deployment started: 2005 Year services began: 2005 Years to complete buildout (planned): 10 Network architecture: Active Ethernet Business model: UTOPIA operates an open-access infra- structure model, in which any third-party provider that meets fiduciary and service-level agreements can offer services on the network.
Current third-party retail service providers and services: Brigham.net
ConnectedLyfe Fibernet
First Digital Infowest Integra
Data, Voice, Video Data, Video Data Data
Data, Voice, Video Data
The arts center in Centerville, the newest city added to the UTOPIA network.
Spectrum Fiber Telesphere
Utah Broadband Veracity Voonami
Windstream Xmission
Data, Voice Data Data
Data, Voice, Video Data
Data, Voice Data, Voice, Video
Highest-tier Internet access: UTOPIA wholesales access to service providers with varying speeds and service- level agreements. Speeds range from 5 Mbps to 1 Gbps.
Residential subscriptions: Data
Data, Phone Data, Phone, Video
Business subscriptions: Data
Data, Phone Phone
45.3% 25.7% 12.3%
82.4% 15.8% 1.8%
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IMPACT UTOPIA's goal is to make life better for municipalities, resi- dents and businesses.
16 | BROADBAND COMMUNITIES | www.broadbandcommunities.com | MAY/JUNE 2012