DynamicCity::Current Projects

UTOPIA was the flagship project of DynamicCity. The UTOPIA project is the largest municipal fiber-to-the-premises project in the United States. Initial construction began at the end of 2004. Services began to roll out in limited communities during Q1 2005. At the present time, a typical internet connection (dedicated, not shared, and fully symmetrical) of 15 Mbps cost $39.95, a 50 Mbps cost $59.95, and a 100 Mbps cost $89.95. Triple play packages (voice, video, & data) were being designed to start at around $105.00.

UTOPIA is an alliance of 16 Utah communities that are dedicated to accelerating economic development and quality of life in their communities by deploying an advanced telecommunications network over the last mile to all homes and businesses. Because of failures by private industry to address their telecommunications needs, UTOPIA principals organized this consortium of interested Utah communities to build their own Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) multi-community network. Geographically, UTOPIA ranges from the city of Tremonton in northern Utah to Washington City in southern Utah, a distance of approximately 370 miles. Approximately 60% of Utah’s population lives in cities encompassed by the current boundaries of the UTOPIA project. Fourteen of the sixteen municipalities of which UTOPIA is currently comprised are shown below in a map, along with a table indicating the populations:

UTOPIA is a political subdivision of the State of Utah. In accordance with Utah House Bill (HB)149, UTOPIA has all the rights, provisions, and obligations of municipalities to form and enter into interlocal operating agreements under the Utah Interlocal Cooperation Act, which grants cities (and other public agencies) the authority to form legal subdivisions of the state to do anything a single city can do, including providing telecommunications services. The sixteen member cities have agreed to the UTOPIA by-laws, paid membership fees, and signed UTOPIA’s Interlocal agreement. Eleven of those cities pledged the financial backing necessary to secure initial construction loans. Services are currently being offered in seven cities, and construction is under way in the other four.

In Utah, Interlocal agencies such as UTOPIA can issue bonds on behalf of their members. Consequently, UTOPIA is financed through revenue bonds or, as they are sometimes referred to, limited obligation bonds—these bonds are legally secured by a specified revenue source, rather than by the city’s power to tax, so they do not increase taxes. Cost for the UTOPIA project are projected to be approximately $340 million. Bonds were secured at a sub-6% interest rate with a 33 year maturity.

The UTOPIA network has two primary goals: within all participating communities, provide an infrastructure capable of delivering advanced telecommunications that 1) enhance economic development and, 2) improve quality of life for residents. UTOPIA plans to accomplish this by building the open, wholesale transport infrastructure across which competing retail service providers can serve the Utah market. By constructing, owning, and managing the infrastructure, UTOPIA can ensure a ubiquitous distribution of the advanced telecommunications network within participating communities, and can “level the playing field” for competing service providers, thus eliminating monopolistic business approaches by service providers.

UTOPIA offers wholesale transport across an open-access network, allowing interested service providers to serve the retail market. In exchange for use of the transport medium, service providers pay UTOPIA transport charges and usage fees. There are currently six service providers on the network. These first service providers on the UTOPIA network have focused on three key service offerings: video, voice, and data. Service providers may elect to offer any one, or combination, of those services. In particular, the system provides resources for a provider to offer new IP based optical services for IP broadcast video, IP-based voice services, and high-speed data services. UTOPIA’s network is capable of delivering a wide variety of services. Future possibilities include security services, remote backup, tele-medicine, distance, education, interactive game playing, and many others.

As a wholesale provider of carrier-class transport, UTOPIA provides ubiquitous deployment (residence, business, government) over an all-fiber network delivering 100Mbps/1000Mbps edge connectivity through 5.6Tbps of distributed core switch fabric. Professionally managed carrier-class SLAs—including maintenance and repair, flexible provisioning, granular scalable services, security, and symmetrical transmissions—guarantee the highest levels of QoS.