FTTH Council Lobbies UtahFTTH Council Lobbies Utah

Trade association claims a Utah State Senate bill will kill municipalities' FTTH projects

February 27, 2004

1 Min Read

WASHINGTON -- The Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council today encouraged Utah legislators to understand Senate Bill 66 for what it is, an impermeable barrier to true broadband deployment in Utah. With regards to the issue of municipal broadband, the FTTH Council's position is that "any entity" should have the right to deploy FTTH networks. "Municipalities and municipally-owned utilities are an important and in some cases critical force driving the deployment of Broadband in rural America," stated Mike DeMauro, the FTTH Council's president. "Wider broadband access to all Americans will create enormous economic and societal benefits. Municipalities are an important link in achieving nationwide broadband access." As of September 2003, municipalities accounted for 32% of all U.S. FTTH networks. "I can say with high confidence that without municipal FTTH, this industry would not be as far along today as it is and it is absolutely critical that Utah does not enact legislation that effectively blocks municipal broadband networks," DeMauro continued. Leonard Ray, the FTTH Council's Vice President and Vice-Chairman of the Government Relations Committee added: "This bill was clearly drafted to kill the Utopia and iProvo FTTH initiatives. The growing FTTH market in this country today has benefited greatly from the advances made, lessons learned, and price declines created by municipal FTTH deployments. Less than a year ago, Utah was considered a 'hot bed' for FTTH and one of the country's technology leaders. Should this bill pass, Utah will be relegated to the back of the communications pack, with the population likely destined to the limitations of legacy copper or other broadband-inadequate networks." The FTTH Council members urge all of Utah to fight the passage of Senate Bill 66. Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) Council

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