Feb 18 2010
West Valley City Mayor Mike Winder, backed by mayors and city representatives from other UTOPIA cities, today announced that the cities of UTOPIA are officially bidding to participate in the RFI for Google’s Fiber Communities program.
“Last week Google affirmed that what the cities of UTOPIA are trying to do in boldly bringing fiber to their communities is the right move for the future of telecom in this country,” said Mayor Winder. “It is as if our cities have been buying a certain stock for years and the world wasn’t sure if we were doing the right thing. Then one day Warren Buffet walks in the room and announces that he is going to buy that same stock. Now they are sitting up and paying attention.”
Mayor Winder’s comments were backed by all UTOPIA mayors, some of whom attended and spoke at the event: Ron Russell (Centerville), Steve Curtis (Layton), Joann Seghini (Midvale), Dan Snarr (Murray), and Jerry Nelson (Perry). Each emphasized the critical role that UTOPIA plays in future innovation and economic development in their communities, and their excitement at Google’s announcement. “We’re finding that companies are coming to Midvale specifically because we can offer them fiber,” said Mayor Seghini. “This infrastructure is as important as any of the other infrastructure that we offer to our community, and it’s open to anyone to use it. Google’s announcement brings another opportunity to share our vision in our city and around the state.”
“Few communities are poised like the cities of UTOPIA to offer a real partnership in fiber deployment,” says Todd Marriott, UTOPIA’s Executive Director. “I applaud Google’s efforts to make this necessary infrastructure available and to encourage the kind of innovation that can only come over fiber-to-the-premise technology. It’s encouraging to see that our vision of a gig connection to every home, which we’ve been talking about for the last year, is shared by Google.”
Service providers and businesses that use the UTOPIA network are also excited about Google’s announcement and UTOPIA’s participation in the Google RFI. Among them: Pete Ashdown, CEO of XMission, Utah’s oldest commercial ISP, and provider for the largest customer base of any independent ISP in the state. “I’m sure that Google made this announcement because they’re about as sick of dealing with incumbents as I am,” Ashdown said. “This is a great move toward an open network model that makes quality services available to everyone.”
“We’re riding the light of the future,” says Dave Thomas, CEO of Thomas Arts, “and there’s no way we’re going back.”
Anyone interested in supporting UTOPIA’s bid to bring Google fiber to Utah can find ways to support the bid at utopianet.org/google or send bid suggestions via the “Contact Us” section at utopianet.org.