Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
MURRAY — As new broadband networks grow and expand in cities around Utah to satisfy demand for connectivity, former Utah House speaker Greg Hughes wants to start a conversation.
He worries about what he calls "government-run and government-operated internet," worries that entities like UTOPIA Fiber pose a threat. UTOPIA is a Murray-based quasi-governmental operation with a hand in development of fiber networks in 20 Utah cities.
"We think that people need to stare pretty closely at the role of government providing broadband, especially the backbone or spine of the internet. We think that's a conversation that just hasn't really happened," said Hughes, spokesman on the issue for a group called the Domestic Policy Caucus. Potentially a threat, he warns, are internet speeds and access to broadband, arguing network development is better left, by and large, to the private sector.
UTOPIA, for its part, decries what it says is the "misinformation" behind the campaign and rejects Hughes' suggestion that the entity has power to manipulate internet speed or access. Since last week it has announced completion of a $23.5 million fiber network in Syracuse, in Davis County, and a $6.7 million network in Santa Clara, in Washington County. Another $17.6 million network, its 20th, is in development in West Haven, in Weber County.
"What we do is build infrastructure. ... We actually enable competition," said Kim McKinley, UTOPIA's chief marketing officer. UTOPIA is a quasi-governmental "inter-local agency," she said, that is overseen by a board made up of representatives from the partner cities where it has built its open-access networks.
Fifteen privately operated internet service providers — not UTOPIA — tap into UTOPIA systems to provide service to end users, McKinley said. "At the end of the day in the UTOPIA model, the consumer gets to decide what they want, not the government. We don't make any of those choices. The privately owned service providers are the ones who make those choices," she said.
Hughes, a Republican from Draper and Utah House speaker from 2014 to 2018 who has also run for governor, has been leading efforts to get word out in Utah on the issue on behalf of the Domestic Policy Caucus. The Domestic Policy Caucus has aired TV ads on broadcast networks in Utah taking aim at UTOPIA, which partners with cities where it builds networks. Among other issues championed by the Domestic Policy Caucus, which states its mission as supporting "transparent, public conversations on critical policy issues," is support for a national popular vote in U.S. presidential balloting.
The back-and-forth comes as the state of Utah pushes for expanded broadband deployment, particularly in unserved and underserved areas. It also comes as varied entities, including UTOPIA, aggressively vie to expand networks in cities across Utah to keep pace with demand for high-speed broadband access. Aside from UTOPIA, private-sector players like Ogden-based Connext and All West Communications have been building new networks to challenge the big incumbents, Comcast and Century Link.
Hughes said the Domestic Policy Caucus campaign isn't meant to single out UTOPIA. The Domestic Policy Caucus website cites the case of a problematic government-owned internet venture in Provo in the early 2000s and others in Bristol, Virginia, and Traverse City, Michigan. However, the Domestic Policy Caucus campaign is focused in Utah and UTOPIA is the main example cited by the organization.
Aside from his concerns UTOPIA could manipulate the networks it builds, Hughes worries about the potential financial risks to cities that partner with the entity. UTOPIA's sister organization, the Utah Infrastructure Agency, typically bonds for funds to cover network costs, with cities backing the bonding if fees paid by network customers aren't enough. Some of UTOPIA's early initiatives proved problematic, requiring some cities to step in to help cover bond payments. Since 2009, though, after implementing new operating procedures, network demand has always been sufficient to cover bond costs, according to McKinley.
The Domestic Policy Caucus effort is a distraction from "the real issue" of lacking internet access "and we need to focus on connecting people who are underserved or unserved and not focus on frivolous misinformation campaigns," she said. "For 14 years, we have had a successful model and continue to have a successful model."
Syracuse City Manager Brody Bovero defended city leaders' move to partner with UTOPIA, a decision that came after considering varied options, including private operators. Private companies, he said, would likely have built networks only in areas where there was a likelihood of higher subscriber penetration, while UTOPIA planned to build a network throughout the city.
Like McKinley, Bovero pointed to the free-market competition among internet service providers that tap into the UTOPIA network, also noting Syracuse officials have no way to meddle with internet speeds, one of Hughes' concerns. The subscriber rate to the UTOPIA network in Syracuse was nearly 15% as of November and, as the network was "barely finished" just last October, Bovero expects the figure to keep rising.
As for the financial risk, in the event Syracuse had to step in and help pay off the bonds used to finance the project, the city would provide a loan to UTOPIA that UTOPIA would have to pay back, Bovero said.
Hughes says there are no legislative initiatives afoot related to the Domestic Policy Caucus campaign, and there's no effort in the works to "unwind" the existing arrangements between UTOPIA and its partner cities. He maintains broadband and fiber development, at least outside remote and rural areas, is better left to private companies — and he's pushing hard to get the message out.
Addressing demand for internet access "is the fertile ground for entrepreneurs and business," Hughes said.
