“Bringing UTOPIA Fiber to Syracuse City remains extremely important for the future growth of our community,” said Mayor Mike Gailey. “UTOPIA Fiber has the track record to deliver on speed, capacity, and reliability, as we position our city to be competitive in the digital economy,” noted the mayor.

“We’re really excited to expand the UTOPIA Fiber network here in Syracuse City. UTOPIA Fiber brings choice for residents and businesses. When you have competition, it protects net neutrality, keeps prices in-line, and provides greater reliability,” said Roger Timmerman, Executive Director of UTOPIA Fiber. “Competition solves everything, and that’s what we’re all about,” he said.

In addition to providing fiber access to homes and businesses, UTOPIA Fiber will continue its longstanding partnership with the city to provide connections to schools and other community anchors. The network will add Smart City services like free public wifi, air pollution monitoring, and its EDWIN Project, an early-wildfire detection system to help save lives and property.

Including Syracuse City, UTOPIA Fiber provides fiber-to-the-home services in 17 cities and business services in 50, connecting communities to the fastest speeds currently offered in the United States. Residential speeds are offered up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps), while business speeds reach 100 Gbps. UTOPIA Fiber is a publicly owned Interlocal Agency that operates as an Open Access network. This means that UTOPIA Fiber builds the infrastructure and enables competition among private sector internet service providers (ISPs) via UTOPIA’s fiber lines.

Service maps, build-out timelines, and information on how to sign up for UTOPIA Fiber services in Syracuse City are available at UTOPIAfiber.com.

About UTOPIA Fiber
Created by a group of Utah cities, the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a community-owned fiber optic network that uses the Open Access model to promote competition by giving customers the freedom to choose which telecommunication services they want from competing providers. With fiber availability to over 130,000 businesses and residences in over 50 communities, UTOPIA Fiber is the largest—and widely considered the most successful—Open Access network in the United States, and enjoys the industry’s highest customer satisfaction scores. Since 2009, the agency has successfully designed, built, and operated nearly $350 million worth of fiber projects throughout Utah, all of which have been funded completely through subscriber revenue, at no cost to taxpayers.

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To meet steep population growth, Payson City officials began working with the UTOPIA Fiber team in 2019 to expedite the completion of the all-fiber network. Conversations were catalyst for a $3.5 million bond, issued by the Utah Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA Fiber’s sister agency) early in 2021 to expand and complete the network—paid solely through subscriber revenue, not by taxpayers.

“Thanks to the early-on vision of Payson’s city leaders, our residents and businesses are perfectly positioned to take advantage of all that the digital economy offers,” said Bill Wright, Payson City Mayor. “Everyone in the city having access to UTOPIA Fiber is a boon for the city’s economic development and quality of life,” added the mayor.

Today, UTOPIA Fiber is laying nearly 50 miles of fiber conduit every month and is fully building cities in months, not years. In a survey released in October (that included Payson City residents), 83% of respondents said they were glad their city invested in UTOPIA Fiber. Additionally, 76% report that the network has improved their quality-of-life, and 75% say their community is better because of the all-fiber network.

Payson joins a long list of Utah cities that UTOPIA Fiber has completed including Brigham City, Centerville, Midvale, Morgan City, Perry, Layton, Lindon, Tremonton, West Point, and Woodland Hills.

According to Roger Timmerman, the network has an extensive pipeline of fiber projects throughout the state: “As excited as we are about being invited to build fiber networks in communities throughout Utah, we’re truly delighted to deliver a completed project to Payson City.”

Today, UTOPIA Fiber provides fiber-to-the-home services in 17 cities, and commercial services in over 50. It operates as an Open Access network, meaning that UTOPIA Fiber builds the infrastructure and allows private sector ISPs to offer net-neutral internet services through public fiber lines. Service starts at $65/month for 250/250 Mbps and residents have the option to choose speeds up to 10 Gbps (up to 100 Gbps for business) from 15 local providers—the fastest internet speeds in the nation.

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As the machinery fired up and work began, Pleasant Grove became UTOPIA Fiber’s 16th city with fiber-to-the-home services.

“It’s a big day for connecting America,” explained Timmerman. “As Senator Mitt Romney and other lawmakers are working hard to finalize the broadband infrastructure bill, UTOPIA Fiber crews are digging here in Utah, bringing ultra-fast and reliable broadband service to Pleasant Grove City.”

UTOPIA Fiber is America’s largest Open Access network, meaning that it builds and owns the infrastructure, but allows multiple private-sector internet service providers (ISPs) to compete, making it easier for them to do business while providing increased broadband access for residents. The Open Access model is completely net-neutral and promotes free-market competition, leading to a higher-level of service and lower cost.

“Although Pleasant Grove City’s 38,000 residents are technically ‘served’ by the cable company, community members have been complaining loudly about slow and unreliable internet service. That changes today,” said Guy Fugal, Mayor of Pleasant Grove. “UTOPIA Fiber is here with a proven trackrecord and a loyal customer base. Most importantly, they have been consistently hitting their revenue marks, which is the ultimate quality measure. We’re very excited to start construction.”

Councilman Eric Jensen said: “One of the biggest questions we get as a City is, ‘when are we going to have more options and when are we going to have fiber?’ Today is that day!”

“Competition solves everything,” noted Timmerman. “We’re excited to connect Pleasant Grove City residents, businesses, and students to the fastest speeds in the country.”

Pleasant Grove City—like every UTOPIA Fiber project since 2009—is on track to be funded and grown solely through subscriber revenue, at no cost to taxpayers.  

Including Pleasant Grove, UTOPIA Fiber provides fiber-to-the-home services in 16 cities and business services in 50, connecting communities to residential speeds of up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps), and 100 Gbps for business, both the fastest speeds currently offered in the United States. UTOPIA Fiber is a publicly-owned Interlocal Agency. Participating cities also benefit from various Smart City applications that are enabled by the UTOPIA Fiber network including an early wildfire detection system, fast public WiFi, air quality monitoring services, and more.

Pleasant Grove residents and businesses are invited to visit UTOPIAfiber.com for service maps, build-out timelines, and information on how to sign up for UTOPIA Fiber services.

About UTOPIA Fiber

Created by a group of Utah cities, the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a community-owned fiber-optic network that uses the Open Access model to promote competition by giving customers the freedom to choose which telecommunication services they want. With fiber availability to over 130,000 businesses and residences in over 50 communities, UTOPIA Fiber is the largest—and widely considered the most-successful Open Access network—in the United States, and enjoys the industry’s highest customer satisfaction scores. Since 2009, the agency has successfully designed, built, and operated nearly $300 million worth of fiber projects throughout Utah, all of which have been funded completely through subscriber revenue, at no cost to taxpayers.

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UIA secured the latest round of funding in partnership with Lewis Young Robertson & Burningham, Inc. (Financial Advisor), KeyBanc Capital Markets, Inc. (Senior Managing Underwriter), and Gilmore & Bell (Bond and Disclosure Counsel). Since 2011, the majority of UTOPIA Fiber’s growth has come from its synergistic relationship with UIA, designing, financing, building, and operating state-of-the-art ultra-high-speed fiber-broadband networks, firmly securing its position as the largest publicly-owned Open Access fiber network in the United States.

“What we’re seeing with this latest round of funding is stronger-than-ever demand for high-speed fiber networks,” said Roger Timmerman, UTOPIA Fiber’s executive director. “The $52.5 million provides the capital to build out the remaining areas of our original 11 cities and to add customers throughout our coverage area. We continue to have the best partners in the business, who have worked tirelessly to get us to this point,” he added.

UTOPIA Fiber provides fiber-to-the-home services in 15 cities and business services in 50. They serve as operational parter for Idaho Falls Fiber in Idaho and are in talks with additional municipalities to bring the network to their communities. UTOPIA Fiber is available to 130,000 homes and businesses, offers the fastest internet speeds in the United States (10 Gbps residential and 100 Gbps commercial), and enjoys being ranked as the highest-rated internet option in Utah.

This round of new funding is the largest that UIA has closed on in agency history and the third in the last 14 months ($48 million in November 2019 and $13 million in August 2020). UTOPIA Fiber continues to bring competitive services from 14 internet service providers (ISPs) at the fastest speeds and best value.

UTOPIA Fiber’s Open Access model enables communities to have access to a free and open internet without throttling, paid prioritization, or other provider interference. Participating cities can also benefit from various Smart City applications that are enabled by the UTOPIA Fiber network including early wildfire detection systems, free public WiFi, Smart water and energy management, and air pollution monitoring services.

“The pandemic has shown us just how important fast, affordable, and reliable broadband service is. We believe publicly-owned Open Access fiber networks are the future of American internet connectivity and are excited to be at the forefront of that movement,” Timmerman said.

The public is invited to visit UTOPIAfiber.com for service maps, build-out timelines, and information on how to sign up for UTOPIA Fiber services.

About UTOPIA Fiber

Created by a group of Utah cities, the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a community-owned fiber-optic network that uses the Open Access model to promote competition by giving customers the freedom to choose which telecommunication services they want. With fiber availability to over 130,000 businesses and residences in over 50 communities, UTOPIA Fiber is the largest and most-successful Open Access network in the United States, and enjoys the industry’s highest customer satisfaction scores. Since 2009, the agency has successfully designed, built, and operated over $250 million worth of fiber projects throughout Utah, all of which have been funded completely through subscriber revenue, at no cost to taxpayers.

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