IProvo

Last updated

iProvo is the name of the fiber to the home service in Provo, Utah. Provo's backbone connects homes and businesses throughout the city, as well as municipal buildings, schools, power stations, and traffic signals. Construction began in July 2004 and was completed within two years. With the exception of new subdivisions not included in the original build out contract, the fiber optic backbone is available in all areas of the city. The network's fiber optic equipment is manufactured by World Wide Packets.

Contents

iProvo was initially operated as a public-private partnership. The city owned and maintained the fiber optic lines and fiber optic equipment, while private companies provided television, telephone, and Internet services to homes and businesses. The network had two service providers: Mstar and Nuvont Communications/Veracity Communications. In 2008, the network was sold to Broadweave Networks. Provo deemed Veracity in default on its contract to buy the network after its security deposit fell below $1.6 million. It was given to Google in 2013 for their Fiber network by the city council. [1]

Development and launch of iProvo

In the late 1990s, a community task force was asked to review the work of technical and business consultants and to explore whether or not the city should build a telecommunication system. After several months of study, the committee recommended that the city move forward with the project.

A phased approach was proposed. Phase I would be the construction of three fiber rings throughout the city for internal city purposes. Phase II would be the Fiber to the Home demonstration project area to be launched in one Provo neighborhood. And Phase III would be a citywide deployment to every resident and business in Provo.

Phase I began in 2001, followed by a successful trial period in Phase II, and a citywide build out in Phase III. By December, 2006, only five months following completion of construction, 8,400 customers had subscribed to services offered over iProvo. The number of customers reached 10,000 in September, 2007.

The wholesale model

At the outset, the recommendations of the community task force contemplated that the city would use what has come to be known as a "retail model." In this model, which is the model used by most municipal utilities across the country, the city delivers services directly to the customer.

But the retail model was challenged by incumbent providers in public settings and at the Utah State Legislature. As a result, iProvo uses what is now known as the "wholesale model." Under this scenario, the city builds the network infrastructure and then opens its network to retailers, who offer services across the network.

Why fiber and not other technologies

The city considered a variety of other technology choices including wireless, broadband over power lines, and hybrid fiber-coax.

Fiber to the home clearly had advantages over hybrid fiber-coax, and a sharp decline in costs during the years from when the city first began to study the technology encouraged the city to build a fiber-to-the-home system. While the equipment on each end of the fiber would need to be changed out at regular intervals, studies showed that fiber technology would ensure a long-term future for the telecommunication project.

The city chose not to use wireless technologies because they are tenuous, affected by weather, and require line of sight between antennas for good connection, which is not always possible. Security was also an issue, and networks are often crowded and result in reduced bandwidth speed.

A fundamental mission of the city was to build infrastructure that would be for the long term and available to all residents. The incumbent regulated carriers had communicated to the city that the Provo market was low on priority lists for receiving a fiber network. The city felt confident that if a municipally owned network was not built that it would be a number of years before fiber technology would be available to Provo.

Financial status

In late 2006, the Reason Foundation, a libertarian think-tank, issued a report characterizing iProvo as financially unstable and ineffective at lowering Internet costs or raising broadband use. [2] Provo responded with a white paper challenging Reason's analysis and stating that any conclusions were premature since the full network had been in place for less than a year. In June 2007, "the Provo Municipal Council voted to add $1.2 million in sales tax revenue to the city's budget for the fiscal year 2008 to help iProvo pay off its debt." Additionally, "[t]he city's most recent projections show that iProvo will not be self-sustaining until at least 2011". [3] [4] [5]

The Reason Foundation updated their analysis of the network on April 16, 2008, and found that iProvo's total losses are likely to exceed $10 million by the end of this fiscal year - and that figure doesn't include the $39.5 million borrowed to launch the project, most of which still needs to be paid back. The Reason Foundation report says Provo "faces the dilemma of continuing to fund iProvo with no break-even point in sight, or it can sell and recoup as much of its investment as it can. [6]

Proposed sale to Broadweave Networks

On May 6, 2008, Mayor Lewis Billings announced a proposed sale of the iProvo network to Broadweave Networks of Lehi, UT. [7] This sale would allow Broadweave to be both the wholesale provider and the sole retail provider. Broadweave will purchase the network for $40.6M though a city-financed loan spread over 19 years. As part of the deal, ownership of the network reverts to the city of Provo should Broadweave become unable to make its payments on the loan. The loan is currently backed by a $6M letter of credit from Sorenson Capital but requires no up-front money on Broadweave's part.

On May 16, 2008, Broadweave Networks announced that it will buy out the current iProvo service providers. [8]

Broadweave was then acquired by Veracity networks which has run the iProvo network since then, after negotiating a series of management contracts with the city of Provo.

Criticism of the proposed sale

Broadweave primarily has experience developing in new developments ("greenfields") whereas Provo is an "overbuild" or "brownfield" development delivering services to existing homes. Broadweave has little experience with sales and marketing since it has not been in competitive markets, something that caused the original exclusive retailer, HomeNet, to end up declaring bankruptcy.

Broadweave currently has less than 1100 customers [9] and reported around 800 customers two years ago. [ time needed ]

iProvo has 10,250 customers as of April 2008, nearly 10 times what Broadweave currently serves. The company also has aggressive expansion plans with applications open in Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. [10] It is also rumored to be purchasing the defunct OEN FTTH system in Houston. Since these are capital-intensive projects, the company runs the possibility of burning through capital too quickly and folding. [11]

Pete Ashdown, owner of XMission, has alleged that the RFP process did not clearly solicit offers to buy the network. Some other residents have also complained that the process has not been subject to enough public scrutiny. [12]

Additional criticism has focused on the fact that Provo would again be responsible for the bond debt should Broadweave fail. [13]

Sale to Google

On April 17, 2013, the city of Provo and Google announced that Google would acquire iProvo's existing networks and make upgrades to reach gigabit per second speeds. Approved by the city council, Provo became the third city to receive Google Fiber, following the installation and operation of Google Fiber in Kansas City (including nearby Olathe, KS) and Austin, TX. [14]

It was revealed Google acquired iProvo for $1, and agreed in exchange for completing installation and offering free 5 Mbit/s internet service to all households or businesses for 7 years, after a $30 setup fee. [15]

Related Research Articles

Telecommunications in Saudi Arabia have evolved early in the Kingdom since the establishment the Directorate of Post, Telephone and Telegraph (PTT) in 1926.

Wireless Internet service provider Internet service provider with a network based on wireless networking

A wireless Internet service provider (WISP) is an Internet service provider with a network based on wireless networking. Technology may include commonplace Wi-Fi wireless mesh networking, or proprietary equipment designed to operate over open 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 4.9, 5, 24, and 60 GHz bands or licensed frequencies in the UHF band, LMDS, and other bands from 6Ghz to 80Ghz.

KCOM Group is a UK communications and IT services provider. Its headquarters are in the city of Kingston upon Hull, a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, and it serves local residents and businesses with Internet and telephony services. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange but is now privately owned by Macquarie Group.

TransACT is the trading name of TransACT Capital Communications, an Australian telecommunications company based in Canberra which provides broadband internet access, fixed telephony, cable television services, and mobile phone services in Canberra and a subset of these services in Queanbeyan, throughout South-east New South Wales and in Victoria.

Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency

The Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency (UTOPIA) is a consortium of 16 Utah cities engaged in deploying and operating a fiber to the premises network to every business and household within its footprint. Using an active Ethernet infrastructure and operating at the wholesale level, UTOPIA is considered an open-access network and promotes competition in all telecommunications services.

Fastweb S.p.A. is an Italian telecommunications company that provides landline, broadband Internet and IPTV services. Fastweb is also one of the prominent companies in Italy providing FTTH connections. Fastweb is fully owned by the Swiss telecommunication company Swisscom.

Fiber to the <i>x</i> any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications

Fiber to the x (FTTX) or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic cables are able to carry much more data than copper cables, especially over long distances, copper telephone networks built in the 20th century are being replaced by fiber.

Municipal broadband deployments are broadband Internet access services provided either fully or partially by local governments. Common connection technologies include unlicensed wireless, licensed wireless, and fiber optic cable. Although many cities previously deployed Wi-Fi based solutions, municipal fiber-to-the-home networks are becoming more prominent because of increased demand for modern audio and video applications, which are increasing bandwidth requirements by 40% per year.

San Francisco Municipal Wireless was a canceled municipal wireless network that would have provided internet access to the city of San Francisco, California.

This article describes fiber to the premises in the United States.

This article lists the deployment of fiber to the premises, fiber to the home and fiber to the building by country.

National broadband plan

Broadband is a term normally considered to be synonymous with a high-speed connection to the internet. Suitability for certain applications, or technically a certain quality of service, is often assumed. For instance, low round trip delay would normally be assumed to be well under 150ms and suitable for Voice over IP, online gaming, financial trading especially arbitrage, virtual private networks and other latency-sensitive applications. This would rule out satellite Internet as inherently high-latency. In some applications, utility-grade reliability or security are often also assumed or defined as requirements. There is no single definition of broadband and official plans may refer to any or none of these criteria.

ACD is a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier and Internet Service Provider, headquartered in Lansing, Michigan. ACD provides Fiber Optic Service, Metro Ethernet, Telephone, Hosted Phone Service, DSL, Datacenter and Web hosting services to all types of customers.

LUSFiber

LUS Fiber is a municipally owned subsidiary of Lafayette Utilities System providing Cable Television, Broadband Internet, and Telephone services to the citizens of Lafayette, Louisiana. It is notable for being the first municipally owned company providing Fiber-To-The-Home services in the state of Louisiana, and one of the first municipally owned FTTH companies in the country.

Google Fiber is part of the Access division of Alphabet Inc. It provides fiber-to-the-premises service in the United States, providing broadband Internet and IPTV to a small and slowly increasing number of locations. In mid-2016, Google Fiber had 68,715 television subscribers and was estimated to have about 453,000 broadband customers.

Verizon Fios bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service that operates over a fiber-optic communications network

Verizon Fios, also marketed as Fios by Verizon, is a bundled Internet access, telephone, and television service that operates over a fiber-optic communications network with over 5 million customers in nine U.S. states. The name, Fios, is an acronym for Fiber Optic Service. Service is offered in some areas of the United States by Verizon Communications, while Frontier Communications operates licensed FiOS services in former Verizon territories across six states, using a nearly identical network infrastructure. Fios service began in 2005, and networked areas expanded through 2010, although some areas do not have service or cannot receive TV and phone service because of franchise agreements.

Spectranet Indian Internet service provider

Shyam Spectra Pvt. Ltd., previously known as and Citycom Networks Pvt. Ltd. or Spectra, is a Gurgaon headquartered internet service provider which offers fiber optic broadband services to residential, business, and enterprise customers in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Pune.

Gigabit Seattle was a fiber-to-the-home / fiber-to-the-business network planned to be deployed in Seattle, Washington. The network comes out of a partnership between the City of Seattle, the University of Washington and digital economic development company Gigabit Squared to deploy a next generation network in the City. The project is the second city project announced by Gigabit Squared as part of its Gigabit Neighborhood Gateway Program, after Gigabit Chicago.

Phase3 Telecom is an aerial fiber optic network infrastructure provider, providing connectivity, network management and data storage services to wholesale, enterprise and retail customers across West Africa.The company was incorporated in 2003 and is headquartered in Abuja, Nigeria. In 2014 and 2018, the company added over more kilometers to its existing coverage area with footprint expansion of its MPLS network and fixed broadband services. They now operate a 6,000 kilometres (3,700 mi) open-access aerial fibre optic network. The company has been vital to growth in Africa's growing ICT market, implementing the Wire Nigeria Project—conceived by the Nigerian Communications Commission to help provide broadband communications access to rural communities. Phase3 has a broad range of wholesale and enterprise clients including Glo, MTN, 9Mobile, Ntel, Airtel, Smile Communications, World Bank, Julius Berger, Unity Bank e.t.c.Some of the African countries where the company currently has partner operations include Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Republic of Niger.

Stealth Communications is an American fiber-based Internet service provider (ISP), installing and maintaining its own fiber optic network throughout New York City. Stealth began rolling out its Gigabit Internet services in late 2013 to businesses throughout Manhattan, using in-house employees to lay its own fiber-optic cabling. In July 2015, City of New York and Stealth announced a $5.3 million public/private partnership to expand fiber broadband into Brooklyn and Queen's Industrial Business Zones. As of May 2019, the company reported to have connected hundreds commercial properties with fiber, over 73 fiber route miles.

References

  1. ↑ "Veracity, OHIvey offer plans to run iProvo". The Salt Lake Tribune. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  2. ↑ Reason Foundation (Titch, S.), Spinning its Wheels: An Analysis of Lessons Learned from iProvo’s First 18 Months of Municipal Broadband
  3. ↑ Daily Herald, City approves $1.2 million for iProvo debt, June 6, 2007
  4. ↑ City of Provo, Iprovo's Response to the Reason Foundation Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ City of Provo, Building a Digital Community: A response to Spinning its Wheels; Setting the Record Straight Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Think Tank: iProvo's Losses at $8 Million and Counting Archived 2008-04-21 at the Wayback Machine , April 16, 2008
  7. ↑ Dana, Jens (2008-05-07). "Mayor calls iProvo sale a good deal". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
  8. ↑ Daily Herald, Broadweave announces buyout of iProvo service providers, May 16, 2008
  9. ↑ Dana, Jens (2008-05-14). "Broadweave officials hit with tough questions". DeseretNews.com. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
  10. ↑ Telephony Online, Greenfield players pursue fiber land grab Dec. 11, 2006
  11. ↑ Daily Herald, LOCAL OPINION: Broadweave purchase revives memory of past failings May 15, 2008
  12. ↑ pashdown.org iProvo Sale and RFP May 7, 2008
  13. ↑ Daily Herald, Officials talk risks, scrutinize iProvo sale May 14, 2008
  14. ↑ The Verge, Google Fiber is coming to Provo, Utah by late 2013 April 17, 2013
  15. ↑ "Google is Buying Provo's Existing Fiber Network for a Dollar". Tom's Hardware. 2013-04-19. Retrieved 2016-12-17.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.