A Performance Audit of the Utah Telecommunication Open ...

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Five‐Year Plan Summary 4cities’ network, it goes away. Private networks hide the infrastructure fee in their monthly billso they can continue to charge it, even after the investment has been recovered.The CUE is a contract between the city and the homeowner that covers the installation of fiberto the property. The contract allows customers to pay for their connection to UTOPIA over aperiod of time, rather than paying the entire connection cost upfront. Upon joining thenetwork, a customer has two contract options with the city: 1) to tie the contract to theproperty, which would be very typical of a home infrastructure project, with a notice ofinterest. The notice of interest simply allows the city and real estate professionals know theinfrastructure has been installed in the event the homeowner sells their property and acts as asecurity against lengthy periods of non‐payment. 2) to tie the contract to their person with afive‐year, self‐renewing contract until the cost of the infrastructure is paid in full. This creates alevel of flexibility for customers that would like the infrastructure, but are long‐time renters orwould simply like to contract with the city as an individual, instead of with their property. Eitherway, the contract allows residents to finance the connection through small monthly paymentson their utility bill and take advantage of the cities’ favorable financing option.What’s involved in an awareness campaign?UIA’s awareness strategy is based on the concept of deploying an integrated marketing solutionto the market. UIA must drive value – both with current applications and by implementingupcoming and new applications that benefit the community as they become – through thenetwork in order to establish the network’s key differentiators. Establishing this differentiationwill allow us to attract users to the network and allow our service providers to innovate andmarket to the customers. UIA’s awareness strategy is, essentially, a combination of marketingtactics combined with awareness advocates – teams of individuals who go door to door torepresent the city and explain the network’s value proposition (choice of service providers,dedicated fiber‐to‐the‐home connections, better products and service at competitive rate andcommunity benefits). Awareness advocates also facilitate the relationship between the city andthe resident – collecting CUE contracts from resident that are interested in joining the networkbased on the apparent benefits. The awareness strategy is deployed in both the business andresidential markets.The tactics deployed to support the advocates are similar to a traditional marketing campaignwith some modification to fit the UIA strategy. Primarily, we mix in a very high degree ofgrassroots efforts, because so many in the community feel strongly invested in the success oftheir cities’ initiative. We want the community to understand their city had the foresight andvision to provide this needed infrastructure as a way to develop opportunities and that thecities own the network.- 70 - A Performance Audit of the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (August 2012)
Five‐Year Plan Summary 5What are the goals of the model?The UIA’s strategy is intended to help the network get as many residents on the network asquickly as possible. This creates an appealing environment to support private‐sector providersthat use the network, allows more innovation and economic development opportunities withinthe communities, and covers the costs of the cities’ additional investment. The goals of UIA areno different than those of the early visionaries and UIA leverages the lessons learned to makethose goals a reality.A Feasibility Study has been commissioned and the results of that study will be availableshortly. And, as always, we invite any interested city council members or city staff to come intoour offices to learn more about the details of the plan that are germane to their interests.How does the stimulus award affect the network?The Stimulus was awarded to the network under the Broadband Technologies OpportunityProgram (BTOP), overseen by the Department of Commerce. The $16 million dollar award is tobe used to establish critical fiber infrastructure throughout eight member cities, specificallyrouted to nearly 400 anchor institutions. These institutions include, but are not limited to,schools, medical institutions, city first responders (Fire, Police and ambulatory), libraries,community colleges, city services, etc. The grant awards funds for “middle mile infrastructure,”which means it will serve as the core fiber rings throughout the city. Middle mile fiberinfrastructure is expensive and the ability to take a giant $16 million bite of our futurerequirements is a major win for the cities. As has been reported, the cities will be required tomatch the $16 million award with an $8 million investment. The match from the cities will bederived from within the funding already detailed in the five‐year plan.ConclusionThe five‐year plan was developed in conjunction with UIA and UTOPIA staff, the ExecutiveCommittee and UIA Board members, financial advisors, in‐house counsel, bond council andindependent feasibility study experts.Staff and board members stand prepared to disseminate any additional information. Wherethere may be any additional need for clarification, it is critical that arrangements are made tomeet at your earliest convenience.Office of the Utah Legislative Auditor General - 71 -
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REPORT TO THEUTAH LEGISLATURENumber
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DigestA Performance Audit ofUtah Te
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Table of ContentsDigest ...........
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will be funded through UIA financin
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the organization’s general manage
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UTOPIA Did Not Reach Its Goal to Bu
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UTOPIA did notachieve its goal toco
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Figure 2.4 Summary of the Agencies
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efinancing, the maximum amount pled
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One consequence of the slow growth
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factors in deciding where to build.
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completed in a timely fashion and h
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