UTOPIA's hitting the big time.

The fiberoptic consortium, which is owned by 14 member cities in Utah, is an important model of one type of community-led Internet provider, said executive director Paul Morris, which is why he was invited to Washington, D.C., to offer testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"I think it's just because we're a good example of the wholesale open model," he said.

The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency, which includes Cedar Hills, Lindon, Orem and Payson in Utah County, builds a fiberoptics network in its member cities and leases it to telecommunications providers. Having the high-speed Internet access is an especially important part of economic development and quality of life, which is why cities get involved, Morris said. That's what he'll be telling the committee.

The focus will be on innovation and competition in telecommunications, since both the House and Senate are debating bills that would alter the industry; the Senate's bill would put restrictions on what municipalities could offer, he said.

"They want to hear from municipalities as to what we're doing, and of course we do not want restrictions," he said. "That would not be good."

UTOPIA and other community-sponsored fiberoptic networks provide the competition to corporations, he said, which is why they are so important. Orem's network is about half completed, while Payson's is entering into the second phase of construction and can service a small number of residents.

Provo and Spanish Fork both have city-owned networks as well. Utah cities are bound by state legislation that allows a government entity to own the infrastructure but not offer the services.

Corporate Internet providers have expressed concern with government getting involved in private business; a Qwest spokesman at a public hearing in Provo in March questioned the fairness of using city revenues, including taxes paid by Qwest, to fund iProvo.

Joel Wright, the government affairs director of Dynamic City, which manages UTOPIA, said the hearing may be broadcast on C-Span, although with the immigration debates also going on it is unlikely. Morris will be testifying along with several other municipal and corporate representatives.

Heidi Toth can be reached at 344-2543 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

What: Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on telecommunication

When: 7:30 a.m.

Where: http://judiciary.senate.gov/hearing.cfm?id=1910