I fail to see how revenue bonds divert essential funding away from
services that really matter to the public.
Jared
Sent: Saturday, April 27, 2024
From: "Ken Hohhof" <khoh...@kwom.com>
To: "'AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group'" <af@af.afmug.com>
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] ***SPAM*** Re: ***SPAM*** Govt funded fiber -
Utopia
Everything’s political now, of course.
But he does have a point when he says “Government-owned broadband
networks cost millions of dollars and divert essential funding away
from services that really matter to the public — services such as
police and fire, roads, water and sewer.”
In the past, the government has undertaken vast programs at
taxpayer expense like rural electrification, the interstate highway
system, the space program. Now apparently high speed Internet is the
thing of the moment that takes precedence over all the other broken
things that we might wish government to fix. I sometimes wonder why
Internet? Maybe because it seems easy and gives people the power to
hand out billions of dollars. Could they cure cancer or get lead out
of drinking water or fix all the deteriorating bridges with something
like a BEAD program?
Maybe they think broadband and AI and neural implants will lead to
a future where everyone is plugged into the network and doesn’t need
any of those other things. Maybe we’ll all be heads in jars like in
Futurama.
From: AF <af-boun...@af.afmug.com> On Behalf Of Chuck McCown via AF
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2024
To: Josh Luthman <j...@imaginenetworksllc.com>; AnimalFarm Microwave
Users Group <af@af.afmug.com>
Cc: ch...@go-mtc.com; John Brewer <n7...@me.com>
Subject: [AFMUG] ***SPAM*** Re: ***SPAM*** Govt funded fiber - Utopia
I am surprised they have never broke even.
From: Josh Luthman
Sent: Friday, April 26, 2024
To: AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group
Cc: John Brewer ; ch...@go-mtc.com[mailto:ch...@go-mtc.com]
Subject: Re: [AFMUG] ***SPAM*** Govt funded fiber - Utopia
Article:
https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2024/04/19/government-internet-service-bad-for-taxpayers/[https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2024/04/19/government-internet-service-bad-for-taxpayers/]
On Fri, Apr 26, 2024 at 4:59 PM Chuck McCown via AF
<af@af.afmug.com[mailto:af@af.afmug.com]> wrote:
By John Dougall
For the Deseret News
Most Utahns probably agree that government should stick to essential
government services and stay out of enterprises that are better
performed by
the private sector.
Yet, across the country and right here in Utah, more and more
governments
are building government-owned internet networks, despite numerous
private-sector providers being available.
The number of government-owned networks is increasing by the day, and
taxpayers, not users, are often footing the bill. Government-owned
broadband
networks cost millions of dollars and divert essential funding away from
services that really matter to the public — services such as police and
fire, roads, water and sewer.
Two unfortunate examples of government-owned broadband networks right
here
in Utah are iProvo and UTOPIA.
In 2004, Provo launched iProvo to provide broadband internet services to
homes and business. Provo reportedly bonded for $36.5 million to bring
service to every home in the city and wrote off $5.4 million that the
city’s
telecommunications fund owed the Energy Department’s reserve fund to
finance
the costly deployment. After struggling to make the network viable,
iProvo
was sold in 2008. But its buyer failed to fulfill the terms of the
sale, and
iProvo reverted back to the city. In 2013, in a desperate attempt to
free
itself of the failed venture, the city ultimately sold iProvo to
Google for
$1.
Similarly, UTOPIA (Utah Telecommunications Open Infrastructure
Agency) was
launched to provide broadband internet services to a consortium of
cities.
But UTOPIA has failed to fulfill its promises for more than two
decades now.
The project, which started in 2002, was projected to be finished in
three to
four years. Fast forward to today, and it is still incomplete. Not
only is
UTOPIA incomplete, but the project has racked up $300 million worth
of debt.
And despite iProvo’s example of failure, UTOPIA continues to expand.
For years, UTOPIA consistently lost money, expecting taxpayers to cover
those losses. In addition to this, the government-owned network
continues to
expand and pull other cities into this trap. What’s more egregious is
that
UTOPIA misrepresented its performance as it pitched cities on buying
into
the expansion fever. For example, UTOPIA once claimed the network had
“no
cost to taxpayers since 2009.” This statement was patently inaccurate.
As your watchdog, I help you to hold your government accountable. My
office
investigated this and other claims, then we wrote a letter
identifying these
inaccurate statements. We instructed UTOPIA to do the following:
•Discard or destroy marketing materials with misleading statements.
• Ensure future communications more accurately reflect the dependence on
taxpayer support.
•Take steps to remedy the misrepresentations regarding the lack of
taxpayer
support to any individual or entity that received the inaccurate
information.
UTOPIA’s shortcomings do not stop there, however. Rather than providing
internet access to the more than 40,000 homes and small businesses
that lack
internet access today, UTOPIA, like other government-owned networks,
builds
redundant networks that compete with existing private providers, many
who
are also regulated by the cities in which they operate.
Unfortunately, iProvo and UTOPIA are no different from other
government-owned fiber networks across the country, which fail
financially
about 90% of the time.
When taxpayer money is being diverted from critical services into pet
broadband projects, that money is not going where it is needed most.
Taxpayers expect government to maintain roads, provide safe drinking
water
and keep their communities safe. Money spent propping up broadband
services
costs taxpayers money, encumbered by decades of debt, and deprives
them of
important and sufficient government services they want and deserve.
Plus,
higher taxes burden families, many of whom are struggling today just to
provide for themselves.
Government-owned broadband has done enough harm to taxpayers. iProvo and
UTOPIA should be seen as an example for policymakers of what to avoid.
Public officials across the country, and especially here in Utah, should
resist the appealing allure of expanding or deploying government-owned
networks, which allure has been shown to be deceptive, and ultimately
destructive, to taxpayers.
John Dougall is the Utah State Auditor and is a candidate for Utah’s 3rd
congressional district.
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