Public Power - October 2008 - (Page 12)

10 QUESTIONS were very supportive. They said, “We don’t understand why more cities aren’t doing this.” We received an excellent rating and ended up with an excellent rate. less government is better because what the private sector can and will do, government shouldn’t do. I’ve been on the record from the beginning that if the private sector would do this, I would immediately and quickly stand down. Any municipality that takes this on can expect the wrath of the incumbent providers. We’ve endured all of that. I’ve endured full-page attacks in the newspapers. We’ve endured the attacks from a telemarketing firm that was hired by these companies to call our taxpayers. I’ve endured a picket, sponsored by these providers—people in front of my City Hall carrying signs attacking me personally. When I went out and talked to the picketers, I asked, “Where are you on this issue and why are you doing this?” They said, “We don’t understand the issue, we were just hired to come and do this.” So, it never is going to be something that is done by the faint of heart. We did it because we felt it was needed in our community. We sold it because once we had the system up and running, there was a legitimate private sector player with the requisite experience and with the financial means who came forward and was willing to buy and operate it. How have broadband services and rates changed since you sold it? We turned over the asset to Broadweave Networks on June 30, 2008. I have to say Broadweave has done very well and, while not perfect, as people have called in with concerns, Broadweave has responded. Callers promptly get a live voice and they get answers and solutions about billing and so forth. Overall, we’ve been very pleased. Everyone can always do better and they should strive to do better, but Broadweave gets pretty high marks. I also read that Broadweave has promised to make upgrades to the fiber system—that’s the nature of PUBLIC POWER 3 Mayor Lewis Billings Lewis Billings is mayor of Provo, Utah. Jeanne LaBella interviewed him on Sept. 8, 2008. Four years ago, your city was building a $35 million fiber-to-the-premises project called iProvo. What broadband infrastructure do you have in place in Provo today as a result of that effort? We have fully built out our city and every home and business now has access now to a true broadband alternative. There were, and continue to be, other providers, but they don’t provide complete coverage of the city. They like to argue that’s not true, but it is true. With the construction of the iProvo network, every business and every home has true access to an ultra high-speed broadband infrastructure. There were those in our city who had access to DSL, but there were many in our city who couldn’t get DSL. So there were a lot of people who really didn’t have an alternative until we went ahead with this one. As I recall, you financed your project with a $35 million tax revenue bond. Did that work out well? Yes, very well. There are some who said that what we were doing was so new and so advanced that we would have a hard time getting a good rating on our bonds, but the rating entities 12 OCTOBER 2008 1 2 When the city built the fiber-to-thepremises system, you commented that telecommunications is an essential utility service and that local governments may need to step up to provide the infrastructure and service when private providers would not do so. Now, you’ve sold iProvo to a private company. Why did you sell? I believe our country has been illserved by those who are the traditional providers of these services because they are so committed to making old infrastructure and antiquated systems last as long as they possibly can. Our nation has fallen desperately behind in the number of true broadband connections when compared with other countries. There are times when a community may have to step up and be willing to invest if it wants to compete in a world economy. We have continually been ranked by Forbes magazine and others as an excellent place for business and entrepreneurs. Had we just rode the infrastructure that would have been naturally provided to us by incumbent providers, we would have fallen behind and I don’t think we would have become a premier community for business, entrepreneurship and job creation. Of course, it is not our goal to get a listing in a magazine. Our goal is to be a place where our kids can get jobs, where businesses want to be, and, when they are here, they thrive. Many told us that the infrastructure that was here before we built this one was inadequate. So when we couldn’t get the private sector to come forward, then and only then we had a long, long deliberative discussion and decided we’d step up and provide it because the private sector wouldn’t. My philosophy has always been that 4 5

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - October 2008

Public Power - October 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions The Future of Fuels in a Carbon-Constrained World An Energy Revolution Energy Policy in 2009 and Beyond A Green Reincarnation Beyond the Green Bandwagon Reliability Green Energy Community Broadband Customer Service Hometown Connections Human Resources Parting Shot

Public Power - October 2008

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